Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

It is November 23rd, 2003 and Ivan Landowski slowly places one step in front of the other as he moves down the river walk toward the bridge over the Moose River. His mind was racing with jumbled thoughts, as he looked up at the bridge 80-feet above the water. He knew that anyone falling from that height would probably not survive.
In October 1995 Ivan had been living on a small farm in Bosnia when his life was destroyed. The war between the Muslims and Serbians was none of his concern since he had proclaimed no religion as his own, but he was soon a victim of circumstances beyond his control.
One day while he was off in the woods trying to find something to bring home for his family to eat, a Serbian fighter jet was flying overhead on its way back to the base with what the military calls a hung ordinance. What this means is that the bomb is not secured properly in the rack, and when it is released only one end drops with the other end jamming in the rack that holds the bomb in place. The only way the pilot can get the bomb to release is to bank hard into a turn to shake it loose. This pilot did not know that the bomb had somehow started to drop down, when he received a command to fly back to assist in a skirmish 5 miles away near the town of Kiseljak, and as he went into a hard turn to change direction, the bomb came off and fell directly on Ivan’s house. His mother, father, and two sisters were killed instantly as the bomb ripped through the small farmhouse leaving only a large crater in the ground.
Ivan felt the ground shake in the woods when the explosion took place, and wondered at the time what had happened. Returning home he was devastated by what he saw. Falling to the ground with his hands covering his face he just sat and wept, as he cursed God and everyone for letting this happen. His life would never be the same again as he fell into a deep depression, and would soon turn to alcohol to numb the pain.
Now with no one left in his life, he decided to move to America after receiving a letter from his cousin, who was his last living relative. His cousin lived in upstate New York in an area that reminded him of home because of the hills and the thick woods.
Ivan bounced around from one job to another, never really finding his niche. His cousin tried to help him by introducing him to new people, but Ivan continued his heavy drinking, hoping it would make him forget the loss of his family, and he was never very sociable.
In October 2003 Ivan’s cousin was hit and killed by a drunk driver leaving Ivan alone again. As the holiday season drew closer Ivan gave a lot of thought to Thanksgiving, a holiday not celebrated in the rest of the world, and wondered what he had to be thankful for. He could barely make his rent, and was alone in the world with no one left to love. He had nothing to live for. This was his frame of mind as he walked toward the bridge over the Moose River.
Ivan was about to take the path leading up to the bridge when he heard a dog barking out in the river. Looking out he saw a golden Labrador retriever on the trunk of a large tree floating down the river. The flow of the river was very slow as the tree and the dog moved down toward the bridge. Ivan knew that the river would soon merge with a smaller branch down stream, and eventually pick up speed where it would pour over the Black falls.
He immediately jumped into action. Running as fast as he could down the river walk he came to a spot where there was a small pier that jutted out into the water about 20 feet. Upside down on the shore was a small wooden boat tied to a tree about 300 yards from a small mountain cabin on a hill.
Ivan quickly untied the boat and turned it over to see two oars underneath it. He threw the rope inside as pushed the boat into the frigid ice-cold water, inserting the oars into their locks, then he rowed out into the river trying to time it so that he would intercept the dog and the tree before they passed by him.
As Ivan moved closer to the tree he managed to get ahead of it. He let go of the oars as the boat and the tree started to move at the same pace, then he made a loop in the rope, and tried to throw it over a branch on the tree. He made several attempts, and on the third try he saw it fall over a small branch. He tried to pull the tree and the boat closer together when the tree hit a section of the river with a small set of rapids and lurched forward. The action of the tree moving forward past the boat caused the taut rope to hit the side of the dog knocking him off into the river.
The dog started to panic as the cold water enveloped it, and paddling as fast as he could, he tried to remain afloat. Ivan watched helplessly as the dog struggled. It was then that the rope on the tree came free when the small branch it was on snapped off. Ivan tried in vain to throw the rope over the dog’s head, but the dog was starting to get ahead of him and out of reach. As Ivan watched the dog was sucked under, and when it came back up Ivan could see a look of desperation on its face. Holding the rope in his hand Ivan threw caution to the wind, and jumped into the cold-water swimming to the poor animal where he grabbed it around the neck. With the rope still in his right hand he held the dog, and pulled the boat to them.
Ivan felt the cold water sucking the life out of him as he pushed the dog up over the edge and into the boat. Now he struggled to get back into the boat, but he could not make it. Holding onto the side of the boat he felt his feet touch the bottom, so he started to work his way to the shore. His legs became numb as he crawled out on the bank of the river and collapsed. Still holding the rope he pulled the boat over to the rivers edge where the dog jumped out. Ivan watched as he sprawled out on the snow-covered rocks as the dog ran off into the woods. Lying there he wondered if he had the strength to get up before hypothermia took its toll.
His head started spinning, and everything went dark. He woke up when someone shook him asking him if he was okay? Looking up he saw a bearded old man shaking him and loud barking in the back ground as he came back to his senses.
The old man helped him to his feet as they made their way back through the woods to the small cabin where Ivan found the boat. The old man happened to own the dog, and was very grateful to Ivan for saving him.
Tom told him Saddle was the dog’s name, and he came home soaking wet from the river and kept barking at Tom running back toward the river, until Tom followed him to Ivan.
Once inside the cabin Tom told Ivan to get out of his wet clothes, and gave him a robe to put on. When Ivan came out of the bathroom in the robe Tom had him sit in front of the fireplace to warm up. Ivan thanked Tom, and as he looking around he could see that it seemed like Tom lived alone. He asked Tom if he was married, and Tom said that his wife had died two years ago from cancer. Ivan said he was sorry, and explained that he had lost his family several years ago in the war in Bosnia. They sat and talked for a few hours while Ivan’s clothes were in the dryer both men expressing their difficulty in coping with their loss, and a bond was formed between them that night because of it. Tom made Ivan promise he would come back for Thanksgiving dinner later that week.
Even though he had no reason for giving thanks Ivan went to Tom’s house to for Thanksgiving dinner. They sat at the table with Saddle sitting on the floor between them having a nice ham dinner, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, cranberry sauce, and piping hot biscuits. Tom told Ivan he did not like turkey, and Ivan said neither did he, as Tom laughed saying “ I knew there was something I liked about you”.
Just before they ate Tom said he would like to give thanks, and closing his eyes clasped his two hands together, and said “ Lord thank you for sending a stranger to rescue my dog Saddle, and for giving me a new friend “ Amen”. Ivan sat there and thought he too was thankful for have been introduced to Saddle, and Tom giving him a reason to live again.
As time went on Ivan landed a good job through connections that Tom had at his previous employer, and eventually Ivan met and married a girl named Anna he met from Bosnia. Not long after he met Anna he introduced her to Tom and Saddle, and the four of them spent a lot of time together. They became like family and every Thanksgiving the four of them spent the holiday together with Ivan giving thanks before dinner for the circumstances that brought them together that cold November evening. In his toast Ivan said all countries should have a day set aside to give thanks for the good things in your life, and this is how Ivan came to appreciate “Thanksgiving”.

R.L. Murdoch 06/09/10