[November 23, 2023] Rowen, long ago I was your age, eight years old and living in a small town, so small there was no traffic light, no grocery store, no park, and no library. Thanksgiving was a big holiday, with family coming in for miles around to eat a great meal cooked by my grandmother; we called her Bigmama. I hope you enjoy my story. It tells you about my time as a young boy at a Thanksgiving supper, long before your daddy was born.
“Chicken, black-eyed peas, mashed potatoes, green beans, fried okra, deviled eggs, cornbread, peach cobbler, homemade ice cream and pecan pie – and sweet tea to wash it all down.” That’s what we ate that Thanksgiving Day, and it was a big family get-together for us. As we did often, we traveled to our grandparent’s house, about 20 minutes away, for one of our biggest family gatherings each Thanksgiving holiday. Grandpa and Bigmama, my Mom’s parents, had a large but very old, wood-frame house that was once a travelers’ inn with ten bedrooms but had only two bathrooms. My Aunt Jean, my mother’s sister, occupied part of Bigmama’s house with one of the two bathrooms. The shortage of bathrooms was not often a problem, but the large number of girl cousins changed how we did things. This holiday, Grandpa had to drive some of my cousins a couple of blocks away to the gas station and use their bathrooms; the girls didn’t like it since those gas station bathrooms were gross. My brother Philip and I went to a neighbor’s house and asked to use their bathrooms. It was a simple solution, even if they must have thought we were weird.
We arrived the night before Thanksgiving Day, and as was common practice, all five of us slept in an unused bedroom at the back of the house. It had one large bed. Bigmama had set out a stack of sheets on the bed and a few pads on the floor for us kids. When my mom first entered the bedroom, I heard her scream so loud that it scared the bejeebers out of me. Then I saw what frightened her. Hanging from the ceiling was a giant Bat, black and nasty-looking, with fur and bony wings. My brother ran upstairs to escape but returned crying because the dark scared him, too. Sometimes, I just had to laugh at him.
Aunts and Uncles began arriving around the same time, settling into their rooms, while our cousins and I were running around outside, making scary sounds to scare the girls. Most of our cousins were girls, so it was easy. The following day, we were up early to the sound of frying eggs and bacon. Bigmama was the greatest cook of all time, making an early morning feast for what must have been 18 to 20 people. Her homemade biscuits with slabs of real butter were the best. I ate so fast and so much that I walked about while pointing to my stomach that was sticking out. I almost threw up. My brother did throw up. The rest of the morning, we were everywhere, picking up pecans in the backyard, throwing dirt clods at wasp nets and running away screaming – only my brother got stung -, playing on the giant swing set, chasing the girls, and going downtown to watch the drunks stagger out of the local bars. We had a fun time.
Before us kids knew about the time, the adults called for us to come inside and eat Bigmama’s Thanksgiving meal. Sometimes, we would eat outside this time of year, but not this time. Adults ate in the large dining room that sat ten people. My older cousin Ronna and I were allowed to eat at the adult table, a privilege recognizing that we were older than my cousins. The others ate at the “kid’s table” in a nearby room where the adults could monitor their behavior. As the supper was being readied, there was a power outage. Grandpa got up from his comfortable leather chair and took me to a utility room to replace a circuit fuse. When he replaced it, we heard a sharp yelp from the kitchen. I ran back to see my Aunt Jean holding an electric blender like a pistol and decorating the kitchen wall with mashed potatoes. I laughed. My Mom swatted me lightly on my rear as a reminder to be kind.
As usual, the meal was fantastic. However, Bigmama’s pecan pie was voted the best dessert. Aunt Jimmie-Doris made a very delicious peach cobbler pie. Aunt Jean had made a dessert also: jello, whipped cream, and a fruit piece of glop that no one wanted. Our parents had threatened us with the pain of a butt whupping if we acted up, insulted any adult, or annoyed them while they were eating. I finished first, as usual. After asking permission to leave, I went to the kitchen to look for cookies when I noticed a small fire burning on the stove. A dishrag had caught fire. I walked back to the adult table and stood there until my Dad finally asked what I wanted. “Sorry, but the kitchen’s on fire,” I said politely. Adult men were up, knocking over chairs and dishes as they ran into the kitchen to extinguish the pitifully small but still dangerous fire. Once the fire was out, my Dad lectured me about prioritizing politeness over common sense. Good point. Thanks, Dad.
This was a Thanksgiving to remember. All of us were exhausted as Dad drove home that night. Our car ran out of gas on the way back, yet we drifted into a gas station in our hometown by sheer luck. My Mom was horrified. U.S. kids were clueless as to what had just happened. A month later, we were in a car accident at this exact location. There were no seatbelts, and fortunately, no one was injured. I always liked Grandpa and Bigmama’s place. This time, it was Thanksgiving Day that brought us together.
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Please read my books:
Blessings to Gen. Satterfield and his family for their service to America and to the world for being good people who are oriented toward God our Savior.
Q, you are so spot on with your blessings of Gen. Satterfield. We are in terrible times where much of our nation support terrorism against women and innocent children, and babies. This is an Evil that must be purged out of our democracy. Remember that democracy is not a suicide pact. Freedom sometimes means taking action against Evil like was done during WWII and Vietnam and Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gen. Satterfield, this is another wonderful, loving letter to “My Granddaughter.” Please continue publishing them. Others have written to you and suggested you put these into a book. Please consider their suggestions seriously. If you do, please have a section before or after each of these letters to explain the meaning or connecting the dots with you military career.
Thanksgiving to my friend Douglas Sattefield. Thanksgiving to my friends who read his daily blog and your comments. As a young boy growing up in a small town I can relate to this blog. It like my life story grown up. Bigmamma biscuits were the bomb. Even days later, we as kids go by ask her can we get a biscuit. Of course it was very hard by now we didn’t care. Her German chocolate cake and peach cobbler were my favorites. The problem was she cut the cake paper thin slices. I wanted a bigger piece. Nevertheless I was thankful that she made several choices for us to select from.
The love of the aunt’s and uncle talking. We as kid’s had to play outside til the adults were done we came in .She cooked enough that we had enough to eat.
Nothing like time with family dinner during the holidays.
Even in all our celebration let’s not forget the homeless veterans and homeless people who may not have a place to go . Take them so leftover from your meal to share with them. Words of caution, take someone with you.
Thanks, Giving. THANKS for my blessings, thus I am giving of myself to help someone else.
We will never forget our Veterans. Thank you Eddie, love your comments.
Eddie, looks like we have a similar upbringing with some wonderful grandparents in our lives.
Yes. We do my friend. Grandparents are the glue to the family. The wisdom even though lack of higher education was vital. So we see education is great but a greater education comes from the older people who are in our lives. Call them this holiday season to say hello and thanks. Better send them a thank you card with gift card. I do this each Christmas.
My grandmother taught her girls to cook. Grandpa
No carpenter formal education was a great builder of things.
Give a child a fish and he live for the day. Teach them to fish they live for life.
Eddie, you nailed it. Grandparents help glue the family together through their experiences and wisdom.
I like this website by Gen. Satterfield because it is not Politically Correct at all. Like he uses NAMES and is happy to do it. Keep up the great works being done here and in the comments section too.
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Happy Thanksgiving Day
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✔✔✔✔✔ Bryan, you are writing what we all are thinking. ✔✔✔✔✔
Super Duper letter!
It is not often that a person can run across such an in-depth website that discusses not just leadership today but what it takes to develop the right and proper character for exercising the right leadership traits and behaviors. This webiste is a gem. Please continue these letters to your Granddaughter, Gen. Satterfield and continue helping us become better people. I really like how you discuss the psychology of humans and how we can individually work on ourselves. I would recommend that Gen. Satterfield tackle the big gorilla in the room and discuss how America has fallen into the support of Hamas and other forms of terrorism and stands against Israel. what is the psychology behind that? This is the kind of question that is attempted being answered today but I am not convinced by what is so often written by stupid “experts.” Let us have Gen. Satterfield give it a try. Thanks all, and Happy Thanksgiving.
Max, I see you are back in form. Much appreciated and I agree that Gen. Satterfield should tackle the problem of why so many Americans, especially young Americans support the “Palestinian” cause in the face of the horrors their culture supports.
God Bless, General Satterfield on this Thanksgiving Day.
Living the good life now retired. I get to read more of Gen. Satterfield and went back in time to read this blog from the beginning. The site has changed and I can see how Gen. Satterfield is ‘developing’ as he writes. Plus the increase in comments and quality of comments. I’m thankful today for my good family and friends but also for Gen. Satterfield.
Yes, Happy Thanksgiving to Gen. Satterfield and his family and to everyone here on his website.
Thank you, Greg. Indeed, a wonderful website. Gen. Satterfield is da man.
This letter is classic Gen. Satterfield. He is telling us what happened on one day of his life on Thanksgiving Day when he was 8 years old. He sure has a gift for telling us a story and that is why I’m so happy that he now has #37 letters to his granddaughter. As these letters pile up, we are able to feel how Gen. S. as a kid felt and how his experiences significantly affected his choice of the US Army and how he succeeded in being an army officer. Like others have said, Happy Thanksgiving and I hope everyone has a great day with friends and family.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY
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Indeed, Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Happy T Day. 👀
Classic introduction and one that your granddaughter should appreciate.
” Rowen, long ago I was your age, eight years old and living in a small town, so small there was no traffic light, no grocery store, no park, and no library. Thanksgiving was a big holiday, with family coming in for miles around to eat a great meal cooked by my grandmother; we called her Bigmama. I hope you enjoy my story. It tells you about my time as a young boy at a Thanksgiving supper, long before your daddy was born.”
Gen. S, I hope your granddaughter gets to read this letter today. If you can give us feedback on what she says, we would be greatly appreciative. Let us know. Oh, and I just purchased a copy of Gen. Satterfield’s “Our Longest Year in Iraq.” Wonderful book with stories everywhere. Please keep your website alive and with new articles coming every day. That is what keeps me coming back here to https://www.theleadermaker.com.
We all love this leadership website. 📈👨💼
Thanks Otto, for writing what many of us are thinking. ❤ For those that have been on this website for so long, thank you too for adding to the discussion. We are living in dangerous times. reading these articles give me a better since of how to make me a better person and stronger and more resilient. 😉
Yep, got that right Emma. Happy Thanksgiving. 🦃
Your Welcome. 🦃
“Our car ran out of gas on the way back, yet we drifted into a gas station in our hometown by sheer luck.” – Gen. Doug Satterfield. That must have been a great conversation to overhear between Gen. S’s dad and mom. I’m sure his mom was horrified and scared and frustrated because, as I understand it, this was not the first time he ran out of gas. 👍 LOL
Yeah, I’m sure too. These are great letters. I’m able to follow Gen. Satterfield’s growing up. The only complaint, and not really a complaint, is that the letters are not in chronological order.
Loving you letters, Gen. Satterfield.
Great Thanksgiving Day letter to your granddaughter, Gen. Satterfield and thank you for what you do for us all.
Truly thankful for Gen. Satterfield and for those who are here in the leadership forum helping others better understand and give context to these articles. 😜 Be sure to get a copy of Gen. S’s books on Amazon.
“55 Rules for a Good Life”
“Our Longest Year in Iraq”
Indeed, please get his books.
Happy Thanksgiving to all ………..
Great letter, once again. Gen. Satterfield now has the best running series ever and esp. compared to any other website on leadership and now he is giving us an idea of what made him such a great leader of so many thousands of soldiers.
Thank you Eddie.