A Thanksgiving Story

Do you have a memorable Thanksgiving story? I do. It was my first Thanksgiving with Lydia's family.

Except for her mother, no one had met me. I was that "mystery man."

Dinner was promptly at 2, and Lydia told me "not to be late" as punctuality was very important to her dad. Well for a number of years I was a volunteer chaplain at the local jail, and a single father. I thought it was healthier for my son to celebrate this day with his mom and her family. So I would go to the jail on this day; these men were also separated from their families and the other volunteers, even the official chaplain, would be spending the day with their families. But because it was a holiday the deputies didn't have the same schedule of appointed rounds, so sometimes getting out would be a little more challenging than normal. And, on this particular day, when I had an appointment to keep, it was.

So I showed up a little late.

As we sat down to eat Gilbert, my future brother in law, intoned that, "We usually start this dinner on time..."

I said, "I know and I'm so sorry for running late - you just wouldn't believe how hard it is to get out of jail."

You can imagine the stunned silence. Here's this guy that Lydia is dating, that we've all been waiting to meet, and he just GOT OUT OF JAIL?

That's the most memorable Thanksgiving I can ever remember. Talk about making a first impression. But it worked, because seven months later her dad walked her down the aisle to become my wife. And a permanent member of her family.