Lots To Write About In November

Here we are in the first full week of November. Look at all the things that happen this month! Only yesterday, most of us set our clocks back an hour. No extra hour of sleep for me because I woke up at the old time. Hopefully, that won't be the case in a few days. 

Tomorrow is Election Day when we all have an opportunity to voice our opinions through our vote. This year has been one of hotly contested races. Mud-slinging tactics on both sides. That doesn't seem the best way to get votes. Back in the early fifties, our junior high class held elections for class officers. It was a good way to learn about our election process. I ran for Secretary. Of course! Why? Because in those days girls were secretaries and boys ran for the other positions. We learned about campaigning, the voting process, and more. The one thing that stayed with me was that we were taught not to put the other candidate down. I can hear Miss Stange saying, "Tell your audience why you are the best candidate. Don't say anything negative about the other candidate. Sell yourself." Poor woman must be rolling in her grave at the way elections have changed over the years. Even so, I will vote and I hope each of you will do so, too. It's a privilege we should never take for granted. 

Later in the month, we'll honor our veterans with parades, news articles, interviews on TV news shows and military ceremonies for service given. If you see a veteran or someone in the military now, be the one who steps up and thanks them for their service. It's not always easy to go up to a stranger and say what's in your heart. If you can do it, you may make that person's day. On November 11th, our entire nation should give thanks for our veterans and military personnel.

On the 27th, families all over the USA will gather to give thanks and to partake of the Thanksgiving feast. Traditional foods will be prepared and enjoyed from east coast to west coast and from the Canadian border to the Mexican border. Turkeys and pumpkin pies and more will grace dining tables in homes and restaurants, in church basements and missions. It's one holiday that people of all religions in our country can celebrate. 

Our daughter's birthday falls on Thanksgivng Day this year. We'll have birthday cake along with the pumpkin pie. Her children will help her blow out the candles after we sing Happy Birthday. You can read a story I wrote 6 years ago about the Thanksgiving week she was born here. 

November probably brings various memories to many of us. Surely, some of these special times this month will trigger something for you to write about. When the memory comes floating out of the past, don't ignore it. Do something with it. Write the story, poem or personal essay.