Happy Thanksgiving John and Karel

The most enduring quality of any community are the people you meet. Hendersonville is a community of people who, by and large, have come from somewhere else to settle here. 

I had only known of "halfbacks" before in relation to other players on the team; quarter backs and running backs, but in Hendersonville it is the affectionate term applied to those who move from "up north" to "down south" and then move "half back" to Hendersonville and these beautiful mountains. It is here where often they redefine "family", to expand the definition to include those with whom we now find ourselves developing new bonds in a new age and stage of life. Tonight's eclectic group included folks who haled from Maine to Indiana, sailed from Pennsylvania to Pensacola and commuted from New York and the Garden State to Athens in the Bulldog State. An interesting observation was posed by the conundrum "where are you from?" It is not really quite as easy as it may sound. If you were born and raised in one state but educated, worked and married in others; where are you from,when on balance, the number of years away from "home", far out number those spent in your original nest? So these and many other questions of "Trivial Pursuit" were pondered if not necessarily answered tonight. What was answered, is that Love and Home are where the heart is and Our Hearts are in Hendersonville. The accumulation of love and devotion in the hearts and minds gathered here tonight in the home of John and Karel was something for the ages. As each of us shared our "how we met" stories and shared our "things for which we are most thankful" every moment became a realization of how much we each have to be thankful for and each voice was a testimony to the qualities of life that literally bring tears of joy to your eyes. There is something that suddenly becomes very real, when you take your own turn to say your own thoughts. There is something about hearing the tones of your own voice forming the words to say out loud that I am truly thankful for and give my thanks to that one person who has chosen to share her life with mine. We talked about and shared those simple little actions of seeming insignificance that suddenly transformed and shaped our  lives far beyond anything we had ever planned. The loss and despair experienced in one relationship that lead to such joy and fulfillment in another. This truly was a Happy Thanksgiving dinner. Both casual and elegant, hilarious and thoughtful, musical and lyrical, memorable and perhaps even Divine. 
We are thankful for you, John and Karel.