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A Roadtrip of Memories Reminds One To Be Thankful

http://ozarkspub.vo.llnwd.net/o37/KSMU/audio/mp3/aroadtripo_3218.mp3

KSMU's monthly series "These Ozarks Hills" features stories about people and places in the Ozarks collected and presented by long-time journalist Marideth Sisco. In this installment, Marideth shares her reflections on how a holiday roadtrip reminded her to be thankful.

Hello this Maredith Sisco for These Ozarks Hills.

Like many of you, I went traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday to visit friends. I went down south to the land of cotton and rice and long, straight highways. On the way down, I didn't know the roads, so all my attention was on the map. But on the way back I knew the road. Everything on local radio was canned or bad for my blood pressure, and I was coming back from days of long conversation with people I've known and who've known me for a long time.

So I was replaying those conversations. We talked about the struggle to find thankfulness in the wake of Katrina and ill health and of children coming home from long distances and longer estrangements and those still struggling to find their way.

We grieved the passing of loved ones and the vast sadness that is now the Gulf Coast and the city of New Orleans. So much of what was precious now scattered to the winds.

But then Wilma made her father's famous apple pie. I made Aunt Juanita's famous home made noodles, Brenda candied the yams and Wanda made a toast, and we took a healthy dose of good food, good wine, and great stories of days gone by.

We laughed long, cried a little, and found our way into the spirit of the day with pumpkin pie on the side.

Good medicine, indeed.

Brenda said that while we may all look like we've been through the mill, our voices are still those same young voices we've always known who laugh and joke and wonder what the big deal is about getting old anyways.

That was some return trip, crossing those barren fields, threading the strings of tiny towns where farmers recuperated from the holiday feast while wondering what the wives and kids were spending on Black Friday in Little Rock, or Memphis, or Jonesboro and if they'd have enough coin for their dreams.

People are worried these days, especially in the farm lands. This whole country seems to have been on a long trip down a lonely road of late and if there is an end in sight, nobody is telling us about it. Even our planet home doesn't seem all that safe a place anymore.

All the more reason, I think to take time, not just on a special day but every time we get the chance to give thanks for what's important to us...just so we don't forget.

Me, for instance: I'm thankful for my health what there is of it and for the people who love me enough to help me make better choices. I'm thankful for my family, and for yours. Don't ever take them for granted. Years pass, and so do people, and the older you get the fewer people remember that your voice is still young and carefree.

I'm thankful for the ties of friendship like those renewed this weekend. And the ones right here on the air during last month's fundraiser when voices from my past called in to donate to this station. What a fine day that was. I'm thankful for those people and for the people I don't even know who make my life better by just doing their jobs well...not for applause or for rewards but just because it's the right thing to do. We don't ever thank them enough.

Of course I finally made it back to the end of the flatlands where the road begins to twist and twine its way up towards the Ozarks, back where the air is sweeter and folks don't have an accent.

I hope your holiday was as warm and heart-filling as mine was, and if you didn't get the chance to say "thank you" enough to those who make your life better, and fuller, and richer than it would otherwise be, there is still time.

Giving thanks: may it never go out of season.

This is Maredith Sisco for These Ozarks Hills...and thanks for listening.

Marideth is a Missouri storyteller, veteran journalist, teacher, author, musician and student of folklore focusing on stories relevant to Ozarks culture and history. Each month, she’s the voice behind "These Ozarks Hills.” Sisco spent 20 years as an investigative and environmental writer for the West Plains Quill and was well known for her gardening column, “Crosspatch,” on which her new book is based. Sisco was a music consultant and featured singer in the 2010 award-winning feature film “Winter's Bone.”