Thanksgiving at the Cabin (Encore)

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Speaker 1 You know how lots of sleep aides feel like they're doing something to you?

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Speaker 1 Because you already know the value of rest, DREAM just helps you find the deep part again.

Speaker 1 Welcome.

Speaker 1 to bedtime stories for everyone

Speaker 1 in which

Speaker 1 nothing much happens.

Speaker 1 You feel good

Speaker 1 and then

Speaker 1 you fall asleep.

Speaker 1 I'm Catherine Nikolai.

Speaker 1 I write and read

Speaker 1 all the stories you hear on Nothing Much Happens.

Speaker 1 Audio Engineering is by Bob Wittersheim.

Speaker 1 We are bringing you an encore episode tonight, meaning that this story originally aired at some point in the past. It could have been recorded with different equipment in a different location.

Speaker 1 And since I'm a person and not a computer, I sometimes sound just slightly different.

Speaker 1 But the stories are always soothing and family friendly. And our wishes for you are always deep rest and sweet dreams.

Speaker 1 Now here's how this works.

Speaker 1 We're going to do a little cognitive reshuffling.

Speaker 1 We need your brain to have some little job to do.

Speaker 1 A small, simple focal point in order for you to fall asleep.

Speaker 1 And that job just amounts to you listening.

Speaker 1 following along with the simple shape of the story and the sound of my my voice.

Speaker 1 And this helps you tonight, obviously, but

Speaker 1 also helps in the long term by conditioning a response.

Speaker 1 So have a little patience if you're new here. It will get better with time.

Speaker 1 I'll tell the story twice and I'll go a little slower the second time through.

Speaker 1 Our story tonight is called Thanksgiving at the Cabin.

Speaker 1 And it's a story about a walk through the woods with friends to start the day.

Speaker 1 It's also about sun on your face, empty branches and squirrels, cranberries and apples,

Speaker 1 the sound of the shower running in the other room, and a note written in the steam on the mirror, family as you find it,

Speaker 1 and the deep feeling of enough.

Speaker 1 Okay,

Speaker 1 lights out.

Speaker 1 It's time to be done looking at your phone.

Speaker 1 Really?

Speaker 1 Snuggle into your sheets and make yourself as comfortable as you can.

Speaker 1 You have done enough for the day.

Speaker 1 Now nothing remains remains but rest.

Speaker 1 Draw a deep breath

Speaker 1 in through your nose

Speaker 1 and sigh from your mouth.

Speaker 1 Again, fill it up

Speaker 1 and let it go.

Speaker 1 Good

Speaker 1 Thanksgiving at the cabin.

Speaker 1 The deep woods in autumn have a special scent.

Speaker 1 A layered aroma that rises up from the ground and drifts down on you from above

Speaker 1 of wet earth and dead leaves and moss.

Speaker 1 and pine needles

Speaker 1 and a thousand other things.

Speaker 1 There are places in the world

Speaker 1 that seemingly smell like nothing.

Speaker 1 The overlit aisles of a big box store,

Speaker 1 an empty parking lot in January after a big snowfall.

Speaker 1 A clean, vacant house between owners.

Speaker 1 But the woods would never make that list.

Speaker 1 The woods can feel quiet and solitary,

Speaker 1 but the smell alone is a giveaway

Speaker 1 of the activity hidden under the drifts of leaves and layers of bark.

Speaker 1 And those scents can feel like company on a long walk down the leaf-strewn paths

Speaker 1 a few days before December.

Speaker 1 That is where I was.

Speaker 1 Our dog a dozen feet in front of me,

Speaker 1 happily prancing, stopping to sniff,

Speaker 1 letting me pass him for a few moments,

Speaker 1 then racing back out in front to lead the way.

Speaker 1 We'd done this same walk a few months earlier,

Speaker 1 when the trees were full of shining green leaves.

Speaker 1 And even when there wasn't a cloud in the sky,

Speaker 1 the woods were dim,

Speaker 1 almost dark.

Speaker 1 A sort of daytime gloaming could be found under the canopy.

Speaker 1 But now,

Speaker 1 after the wind and rain of autumn,

Speaker 1 nearly all the leaves had fallen,

Speaker 1 and the sun shone on us whenever it passed from behind a cloud.

Speaker 1 There was a nice feeling.

Speaker 1 The cool, dim woods, suddenly lit up and slightly warmer.

Speaker 1 It made me stop now and then just to close my eyes

Speaker 1 and let the sun kiss my face.

Speaker 1 We had a big afternoon planned.

Speaker 1 It was Thanksgiving, after all.

Speaker 1 But this was perhaps my favorite part of the day.

Speaker 1 Or

Speaker 1 second favorite, right after the mashed potatoes, which we'd be eating in just a couple of hours.

Speaker 1 We were going to our neighbors to share in their Thanksgiving,

Speaker 1 bringing pies and ourselves and our dog.

Speaker 1 And I was very much looking forward to all of it.

Speaker 1 But this quiet time was special.

Speaker 1 It was when I felt most like myself

Speaker 1 and when the pure gratitude of the day

Speaker 1 overflowed from my cup

Speaker 1 without even having to try,

Speaker 1 I breathed in deep lungfuls of the forest air.

Speaker 1 Everything my eyes landed on seemed like a small miracle.

Speaker 1 My dog and I were happy and harmonious and working up a good appetite appetite for the meal to come.

Speaker 1 We passed under a branch where a well fed squirrel sat.

Speaker 1 Her tail pulled about her like a hoodie as she chewed through a nutshell.

Speaker 1 She tracked us with her eyes, but was wholly unbothered.

Speaker 1 And I thought,

Speaker 1 That'll be me later with the mashed potatoes.

Speaker 1 We turned as the path curved,

Speaker 1 and the cabin came into sight, at the end of a long open meadow.

Speaker 1 It was an A-frame cabin, just large enough for the three of us,

Speaker 1 and like the woods in autumn, full of good sense.

Speaker 1 Most days it would be just the familiar smell of knotty pine and wood smoke.

Speaker 1 But today there would also be apple and pumpkin pies,

Speaker 1 crisp pastry

Speaker 1 and vanilla in the air.

Speaker 1 And as I thought of it, we picked up our pace.

Speaker 1 Past the house, at the far edge of a clear field, was a valley.

Speaker 1 We were situated on the side of a mountain,

Speaker 1 and looked across to another.

Speaker 1 Even from far away,

Speaker 1 I could pick out a few of the houses there,

Speaker 1 see smoke rising from chimneys.

Speaker 1 And I smiled at the idea of all of us

Speaker 1 separated by distance,

Speaker 1 but not by action, as we readied for our feasts.

Speaker 1 The dog ran past me

Speaker 1 and slipped through the doggy door into the cabin.

Speaker 1 I stopped at the edge of our small porch.

Speaker 1 At different times during the years,

Speaker 1 a possum lived under the wooden slats.

Speaker 1 Sometimes months would go by without catching sight of him,

Speaker 1 and then he'd be back.

Speaker 1 Or maybe it was his cousin or sister.

Speaker 1 Either way, sometimes a little soul resided there.

Speaker 1 And I would leave an apple, or the last crackers in the sleeve,

Speaker 1 or some other bit of our supper.

Speaker 1 I'd slipped a few seasonal treats into my pocket on the way out of the cabin this morning,

Speaker 1 and I stopped to arrange them for our possible guest.

Speaker 1 I had a handful of cranberries,

Speaker 1 and I set them out in a circle.

Speaker 1 For eyes, there were two plump dates,

Speaker 1 and for a nose,

Speaker 1 a long, pale Brazil nut.

Speaker 1 Finally, I peeled a mandarin and laid the segments out to make a smile.

Speaker 1 It was silly, but it made me feel good and hospitable

Speaker 1 to set out this snack with care and a little whimsy.

Speaker 1 But sometimes your intentions only come across to you.

Speaker 1 Sometimes they're lost in translation,

Speaker 1 and the person or possum you mean to express something to

Speaker 1 doesn't receive the full force of your statement. And that's okay.

Speaker 1 It can be enough that you carry the kindness in your heart.

Speaker 1 Whenever you wish someone well,

Speaker 1 you get the strongest dose of that medicine

Speaker 1 in your own head and heart first.

Speaker 1 So I left my smiley face behind me as I stepped through the cabin door.

Speaker 1 The wind might blow it apart.

Speaker 1 The dog might run out and gobble it up.

Speaker 1 Still, it had been made and offered up, and that mattered to me.

Speaker 1 Inside, the scent of the pies baking filled the air.

Speaker 1 And I thought of that trope in old timey cartoons

Speaker 1 where someone smells a pie and starts floating along, along

Speaker 1 Toes a few inches above the floor Nose first toward the cooling treat

Speaker 1 That pie class at the bakery had clearly paid off

Speaker 1 The pies were set on a rack on the counter

Speaker 1 and I clasped my hands behind my back

Speaker 1 to keep from breaking off a piece of the flaky crust.

Speaker 1 I could hear the shower going and peeked at my watch.

Speaker 1 It was about time to get ready.

Speaker 1 While dinner wouldn't be formal at all,

Speaker 1 it was a chance to spiff up a bit.

Speaker 1 I poked my head into the bathroom.

Speaker 1 It was full of steam and the scent of the eucalyptus that I'd hung up the day before by the shower head.

Speaker 1 My sweetheart was deep into shampooing and hadn't spotted me.

Speaker 1 So I sneaked over to the mirror and drew a heart in the condensation.

Speaker 1 Inside I scrawled our initials.

Speaker 1 We had a way of writing them

Speaker 1 that wove them together.

Speaker 1 We sometimes left the symbol for each other on notes

Speaker 1 or traced it in the sand at the beach.

Speaker 1 I snuck back out and stepped into the bedroom to page through the sweaters in my closet.

Speaker 1 The dog was stretched out across the foot of our bed,

Speaker 1 and I stopped to lay down with him.

Speaker 1 I snuggled up behind him and he rolled over to show me his belly.

Speaker 1 His fur smelled of the fresh air and layers of scent we'd walked through in the woods.

Speaker 1 I laid my head beside his on the quilt

Speaker 1 and we listened to the sound of the shower

Speaker 1 and watched the branches shift in the wind outside.

Speaker 1 I didn't know what more I could ask for in that moment.

Speaker 1 A perfect Thanksgiving.

Speaker 1 Thanksgiving at the cabin.

Speaker 1 The deep woods in autumn

Speaker 1 have a special scent

Speaker 1 layered aroma that rises up from the ground

Speaker 1 and drifts down on you from above

Speaker 1 of wet earth

Speaker 1 and dead leaves

Speaker 1 and moss and pine needles

Speaker 1 and a thousand other things.

Speaker 1 There are places in the world

Speaker 1 that seemingly smell like nothing

Speaker 1 The overlit aisles

Speaker 1 of a big box store

Speaker 1 An empty parking lot

Speaker 1 in January

Speaker 1 after a big snowfall

Speaker 1 A clean vacant house between owners

Speaker 1 But the woods would never make that list

Speaker 1 the woods can feel quiet

Speaker 1 and solitary

Speaker 1 but the smell alone is a giveaway

Speaker 1 of the activity hidden under the drifts of leaves

Speaker 1 and layers of bark

Speaker 1 And those scents can feel like company

Speaker 1 On a long walk down the leaf strewn paths

Speaker 1 A few days before December

Speaker 1 That is where I was

Speaker 1 Our dog

Speaker 1 A dozen feet in front of me,

Speaker 1 happily prancing,

Speaker 1 stopping to sniff,

Speaker 1 letting me pass him for a few moments,

Speaker 1 and then racing back out in front to lead the way.

Speaker 1 We'd done this same walk

Speaker 1 a few months earlier

Speaker 1 when the trees were full of shining green leaves

Speaker 1 And even when there wasn't a cloud in the sky

Speaker 1 the woods were dim

Speaker 1 almost dark

Speaker 1 A sort of daytime gloaming could be found under the canopy

Speaker 1 But now

Speaker 1 after the wind and rain of autumn,

Speaker 1 nearly all the leaves had fallen,

Speaker 1 and the sun shone on us

Speaker 1 whenever it passed from behind a cloud.

Speaker 1 It was a nice feeling.

Speaker 1 The cool, dim woods,

Speaker 1 suddenly lit up and slightly warmer.

Speaker 1 It made me stop

Speaker 1 now and then

Speaker 1 just to close my eyes

Speaker 1 and let the sun kiss my face.

Speaker 1 We had a big afternoon planned.

Speaker 1 It was Thanksgiving, after all.

Speaker 1 But this was perhaps my favorite part of the day,

Speaker 1 or second favorite,

Speaker 1 right after the mashed potatoes,

Speaker 1 which we'd be eating in just a couple of hours.

Speaker 1 We were going to our neighbors

Speaker 1 to share in their Thanksgiving,

Speaker 1 bringing pies

Speaker 1 and ourselves and our dog

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 I was very much looking forward to all of it.

Speaker 1 But this quiet time

Speaker 1 was special.

Speaker 1 It was when I felt most like myself

Speaker 1 and when

Speaker 1 the pure gratitude of the day

Speaker 1 overflowed from my cup

Speaker 1 without even having to try.

Speaker 1 I breathed in deep lungfuls

Speaker 1 of the forest air.

Speaker 1 Everything my eyes landed on

Speaker 1 seemed like a small miracle.

Speaker 1 My dog and I were happy and harmonious

Speaker 1 and working up a good appetite for the meal to come

Speaker 1 We passed under a branch where a well-fed squirrel sat

Speaker 1 Her tail pulled about her like a hoodie

Speaker 1 as she chewed through a nutshell

Speaker 1 She tracked us with her eyes

Speaker 1 but

Speaker 1 was wholly unbothered.

Speaker 1 And I thought,

Speaker 1 that'll be me later with the mashed potatoes.

Speaker 1 We turned as the path curved,

Speaker 1 and the cabin came into sight

Speaker 1 at the end of a long open meadow.

Speaker 1 It was an A-frame cabin,

Speaker 1 just large enough for the three of us,

Speaker 1 and like the woods in autumn,

Speaker 1 full of good scents.

Speaker 1 Most days it would be just the familiar smell of knotty pine

Speaker 1 and wood smoke.

Speaker 1 But today there would also be apple and pumpkin pies

Speaker 1 crisp pastry

Speaker 1 and vanilla in the air

Speaker 1 and as I thought of it

Speaker 1 we picked up our pace

Speaker 1 past the house

Speaker 1 at the far edge of a clear field

Speaker 1 was a valley

Speaker 1 We were situated on the side of a mountain

Speaker 1 and looked across to another.

Speaker 1 Even from far away,

Speaker 1 I could pick out a few of the houses there,

Speaker 1 see smoke rising from chimneys,

Speaker 1 and I smiled at the idea

Speaker 1 of all of us

Speaker 1 separated by distance,

Speaker 1 but not by action

Speaker 1 as we readied for our feasts.

Speaker 1 The dog ran past me

Speaker 1 and slipped through the doggy door

Speaker 1 and into the cabin.

Speaker 1 I stopped at the edge of our small porch.

Speaker 1 At different times during the years

Speaker 1 a possum lived under the wooden slats.

Speaker 1 Sometimes months would go by

Speaker 1 without catching sight of him

Speaker 1 And then he'd be back

Speaker 1 or maybe it was his cousin

Speaker 1 or sister.

Speaker 1 Either way,

Speaker 1 sometimes a little soul resided there,

Speaker 1 and I would leave an apple,

Speaker 1 or the last crackers in the sleeve,

Speaker 1 or some other bit of our supper.

Speaker 1 I'd slipped a few seasonal treats into my pocket on the way out of the cabin this morning,

Speaker 1 and I stopped to arrange them for our possible guest.

Speaker 1 I had a handful of cranberries, and I set them out in a circle.

Speaker 1 For eyes there were two plump dates

Speaker 1 and for a nose

Speaker 1 there was a long pale Brazil nut.

Speaker 1 Finally

Speaker 1 I peeled a mandarin

Speaker 1 and laid the segments out to make a smile.

Speaker 1 It was silly, but it made me feel good

Speaker 1 and hospitable

Speaker 1 to set out this snack with care

Speaker 1 and a little whimsy.

Speaker 1 Sometimes your intention

Speaker 1 only comes across to you.

Speaker 1 Sometimes it's lost in translation

Speaker 1 and the person

Speaker 1 or possum that you mean to express something to

Speaker 1 doesn't receive the full force of your statement. Well, that's okay.

Speaker 1 It can be enough that you carry the kindness in your heart.

Speaker 1 Whenever you wish someone well,

Speaker 1 you get the strongest dose of that medicine

Speaker 1 in your own head and heart first.

Speaker 1 So I left my smiley face behind

Speaker 1 as I stepped through the cabin door.

Speaker 1 The wind might blow it apart,

Speaker 1 the dog might run out and gobble it up,

Speaker 1 but still

Speaker 1 it had been made and offered up,

Speaker 1 and that mattered to me.

Speaker 1 Inside

Speaker 1 the scent of baking pies filled the air,

Speaker 1 and I thought of that old trope

Speaker 1 in old-timey cartoons

Speaker 1 where someone smells a pie

Speaker 1 and starts floating along,

Speaker 1 toes a few inches above the floor,

Speaker 1 nose first

Speaker 1 toward the cooling treat.

Speaker 1 That pie-making class at the bakery had clearly paid off.

Speaker 1 The pies were set on a rack on the counter,

Speaker 1 and I clasped my hands behind my back

Speaker 1 to keep from breaking off a piece of the flaky crusts.

Speaker 1 I could hear the shower going

Speaker 1 and peeked at my watch.

Speaker 1 It was about time to get ready.

Speaker 1 While dinner wouldn't be formal at all,

Speaker 1 it was a chance to spiff up a bit.

Speaker 1 I poked my head into the bathroom.

Speaker 1 It was full of steam

Speaker 1 and the scent of the eucalyptus that I'd hung up the day before

Speaker 1 by the shower head.

Speaker 1 My sweetheart was deep into shampooing and hadn't spotted me.

Speaker 1 So I sneaked over to the mirror

Speaker 1 and drew a heart in the condensation.

Speaker 1 Inside I scrawled our initials.

Speaker 1 We had a way of writing them

Speaker 1 that wove them together.

Speaker 1 And we left the symbol sometimes

Speaker 1 for each other on notes

Speaker 1 or traced it in the sand at the beach.

Speaker 1 I snuck back out,

Speaker 1 stepped into the bedroom to page through the sweaters in my closet.

Speaker 1 The dog was stretched out across the foot of the bed

Speaker 1 and I stopped to lay down with him.

Speaker 1 I snuggled up behind him

Speaker 1 and he rolled over to show me his belly.

Speaker 1 His fur

Speaker 1 smelled of the fresh air

Speaker 1 and layers of scent we'd walked through in the woods.

Speaker 1 I laid my head beside his on the quilt

Speaker 1 and we listened to the sound of the shower

Speaker 1 and watched the branches shift in the wind.

Speaker 1 I didn't know what more I could ask for in that moment.

Speaker 1 A perfect Thanksgiving.

Speaker 1 Sweet dreams.