On 5 August 1620, 121 passengers set sail on two ships -- Mayflower and Speedwell -- from Southampton, England. Their destination was the Hudson River in the New World.
It was a false start. The Speedwell proved to be so unseaworthy, that after two overhauls, it was abandoned in Plymouth. On 6 September, 102 of the passengers crowded onto the Mayflower to begin their adventure of finding religious freedom.
The voyage did not quite go as planned. Storms blew them off course, and they landed far north of their destination in Massachusetts. Within one year half of them would be dead. All of them may have died without the assistance of the local Wampanoag -- who used the English settlers for their own political purposes.
At the end of their first year, the Pilgrims celebrated a good harvest with a Thanksgiving celebration.
It may be a little early to write of Thanksgiving. At least, in its traditional sense.
But I am thankful to my brother who stopped by yesterday to share Costco apple pie with me. He was interested in why I was thinking about keeping the Salem house and spending more time in Oregon.
He reminded me that I left Salem because I was feeling too comfortable here. That I wanted to live the rest of my life being challenged, not coddled. And even though I have not had many visitors while living in Mexico, I was obviously having a good time there.
So, like the Mayflower, I am back on my original voyage. And I may end up someplace unexpected.
Cleaning out the inside of the house may not be done by the end of November. That simply means I may not be able to get the house on the market this month. But on the market it will go.
And I will be back to Mexico to live some more adventures. I have trips to Oaxaca and Chiapas planned for February. There will be plenty of posts to share from what I have heard.
Having a brother to play the role of the Wampanoag is reason enough for me to be thankful.
