Lewis Hyde, The Gift (NY: Random House, 1979), p. 26:"What is given away feeds again and again, while what is kept feeds only once and leaves us hungry."
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Postprandial nibbles:
Steve's mother on her Thanksgiving plans: "I've put an extra box of wine in the fridge. It's for the nuns. If they don't drink it, I will. I think I'll need it."
"The nuns" are her sisters-in-law. Mary Ann doesn't do nuns. Her plan was to urge the wine on her sisters-in-law while having a glass or two herself, to make the hours slide past.
And from our meal with friends Bill and Gary, a long story of two of Bill's relatives (several generations back) in east Tennessee, both named Mary. Both had children who bore the mother's surname, indicating that they hadn't married the fathers of the children. The two Marys lived in adjoining counties.
With DNA testing, male descendants of all the sons of one of the two Marys have proven that they share the same male ancestor. Male descendants of the other Mary don't match these cousins, indicating that they have different fathers.
Bill suggested that if they want to determine their paternal ancestor, they should look at the farms adjoining the two Marys in the first half of the 19th century. If male descendants of the owners of those farms would agree to be tested, it would be interesting to see if the descendants of the two Marys match any of those men.
And so testing has been done. None of the male lines from farms adjoining one of the Marys match any of the sons of either Mary. However, the male descendants of this Mary perfectly match the line of a man, a Mr. Parrot, who lived beside her cousin Mary in the adjoining county. And the descendants of the sons of that Mary perfectly match the descendants of another farmer whose farm adjoined her.
She married Mr. Parrot, the evident father of her cousin Mary's son. Bill has informed a cousin of his who is a descendant of Mr. Parrot that he finally understands why she talks so much.
And so it goes, the table tales with which we amuse ourselves, anno Domini 2008. Through it all, the human comedy never fails to entertain, and we leave heritages that will one day baffle and tickle subsequent generations as much as those of previous generations amuse us now--giving away and feeding again, generation on generation.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
