Miracle on the Mayflower

 

             

                                                 

                                                              

                            Miracle on the Mayflower

 

www.mccormick.com

 – 2,246,400+ followers on Facebook

Turkey Giblet Gravy – Easy Turkey Gravy Recipe

A terrific addition to your Thanksgiving meal. No artificial flavors. Non-GMO. Perfect.

 

You’re thinking, “Finally — a simple gravy recipe! Five minutes prep, ten minutes to cook. The turkey’s in the oven. I’m set.” Then a pop-up flashes across your screen: a Black Friday cruise deal. Outside, a mini tornado of maple leaves is whipping around your porch, reminding you that although the thermometer says 36 degrees, the real feel is somewhere near Arctic Expedition.

Glass of Chardonnay in hand (hey, you’ve earned it) and surrounded by the heavenly aroma of your turkey roasting, you lean back and think, “Why not? A warm Caribbean cruise sounds perfect.”

But there’s a snag. You’ve never cruised before, and you’ve heard things — odd, unsettling things — about suspicious deaths at sea and passengers who somehow fall overboard. You’re remembering that tabloid headline you saw at Jewel yesterday:

“Ten fall from major cruise ships this year. Love Boat vacation sinks with loss of life.”

With two shoppers ahead of you unloading carts that could feed the Seventh Fleet, you had time to read the whole article:

“Cruise ships may feel like floating paradises, but they’re not immune to weird and sometimes terrible things. There have been cases of passengers falling overboard or from balconies — like a recent tragedy on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas, where a 16-year-old fell from a balcony and later died. Even more disturbing is the recent death of Anna Kepner, a teenager on Carnival Horizon, whose body was found under her bed in her cabin, sparking an FBI investigation under ‘suspicious circumstances.’ Despite these horrifying stories, they remain extremely rare. The cruise industry as a whole has strong safety protocols, trained crews, and rescue procedures — so while the risks are real, cruising is still overwhelmingly safe for most travelers.”

 

You understand that accidents happen, and you’ve heard your friends rave about their trips: “It was great — and the food!” You could go online and search for more, especially with that Black Friday deal calling your name, but I’m not doing the googling for you.

Instead, let me tell you about one man who really did fall off a ship — and survived.

His name was John Howland, a passenger on a tiny 100' x 25' wooden ship that looked more like an oversized bathtub than a vessel. He and about a hundred others — plus their belongings and a small Noah’s Ark of goats, pigs, and chickens — spent two miserable months crossing the Atlantic. This was four hundred years ago.

 “Whoa, take 'er easy there, pilgrim".

 Maybe if you had been there, you could’ve grabbed John by the arm and said, “Whoa, take ’er easy, Pilgrim. Are you nuts? There’s a storm topside. Stay below — you’ll get blown overboard in this weather.”

John might’ve replied, “But I need to go to the Poop Deck.”

(Not to relieve himself — what are you, twelve? It comes from the French la poupe, meaning the stern.)

 

  

Maybe John was just being a turkey, ignoring the raging storm. Or maybe he was just curious. I get it — I once did the same thing on a modern cruise ship. The winds were near gale, the waves twelve feet high, and the bow was roped off to keep the true numbskulls out. Only the stern was open, and that’s where I went. I’ll never forget the raw power of the ocean.

Anyway, John decided he wanted to “see what it was like,” so he went up to the Poop Deck — and promptly got washed overboard.

End of story? Not quite.

Sailors of that era often dragged a heavy rope — a hawser — behind the ship to help stabilize it in rough seas. Fortunately for John, that rope was there. Even more fortunate, he managed to grab it, and he held on long enough for the crew to hook him with a boat pole and haul him back aboard.

Yes, John Howland survived — and lived quite an extraordinary life. A few years after arriving in North America, he married, and he and his wife had ten children, and those ten had children, and so on until today there are thousands of his descendants. Among them: Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. And in case you hadn’t guessed —

 John Howland was aboard the Mayflower.

Meme

This Thanksgiving, as you gather around the table, thank God for safe harbors, cherished family, and friends, and for the ropes He throws our way when life’s storms grow fierce.

 

                                                       Happy Thanksgiving