Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Sandwiched between Halloween and Christmas, it is an opportunity for family to gather, eat, and watch/play football. This year we spent it in Omaha where my sister-in-law (this blog's only reader) cooked a wonderful meal for twenty-one people.

Omaha is different than New York City; Omaha has Wal-Mart. There are things that we like to purchase at Wal-Mart that we can't find in the city. So when I flew back from Omaha on Saturday, I did so with a checked bag full of food and household supplies.

That is all.

Humbling

William and Mary Norton evacuated their Breezy Point home last year during Hurricane Irene. Since Irene was not as bad as had been predicted, and since William was recovering from a health condition, the couple decided not to heed mandatory evacuation orders as Sandy approached. Their one-story home sits 3-4 feet above the ground, half a mile from the beach. The storm surge coupled with a full moon high tide brought water to their deck, up the stairs, and into their home. As the two 88 year-olds piled clothing on their bed, the storm waters rose to their waists. They spent dark and cold evening huddled on their bed without power, water, heat, or cell service. In the morning their neighbors rescued them with a borrowed sailboat. (http://tinyurl.com/cmnq4yl).

This morning I tore out their bathroom.

I volunteered with the Mormon Helping Hands in Rockaway and was assigned the Breezy Point area. The experience was incredible.

We took two subways out to a chapel in Brooklyn, then boarded a bus out to Rockaway, then another bus out to Breezy Point. There are many volunteers in the area, but the people there could use many more. Most houses are being gutted or have been condemned. The area is in a district, not a stake, so it is under the direction of the New York, NY South Mission and its mission president. The mission president (a full-time leader) has mobilized his considerable manpower (150+ missionaries) to assist in the clean up efforts. The missionaries are not currently teaching or tracting, instead they spend every day in the hardest hit areas, performing service and coordinating service efforts. Members from the Manhattan stake have been encouraged to perform service on Saturdays and Sundays. There is an abbreviated sacrament service at the Brooklyn chapel on Sundays that is attended by members in work clothes, so that they can immediately board buses to get to work.

The Manhattan 2nd Ward is Better Than Your Ward

Allow me to lay out a few assumptions/generalizations. Though these aren't true in every circumstance, they are more likely than not accurate.

- Smart people tend to do well in school and attend prestigious universities. 

- People that do well in prestigious universities tend to be hired by successful companies and are paid well.

- Successful companies tend to have offices in large cities. 

- Handsome/beautiful people are attracted to wealthy people, or those that will eventually become wealthy (because they are smart). 

- When handsome/beautiful people mate with wealthy/smart people, they have handsome/beautiful/smart children that will eventually become wealthy.

When these handsome/beautiful/smart children get together to perform a primary children's program, it goes something like this:

- Flute solo by a primary child.

- Heartfelt testimonies by primary children

- Six person boys choir (in matching sport coats)

- Girls choir

- Vocal solo by primary girl with primary choir accompaniment

- Vocal solo by primary boy

- Talk by primary boy who quoted George Bernard Shaw

Needless to say, we feel a bit out of place here. At least our baby is cute.