A few years back, I ran an electronic bulletin board on my computer in the basement of our home here in Ogden,Utah. The board was an Asatru support board and I subscribed to several networked message bases that carried discussions from all parts of the country. It was a good cross section of our folk and I had been reading the messages on the message base that was called , "Runes and Asatru".
About the only thing consistant on this message base were the arguments. There were heated discussions about democracy in the different Asatru organizations, monarcy with the Theod's , racism in some kindreds , and no one seemed to agree with anyone else about anything.
Thoroughly disgusted with all the arguments,I signed off the computer, went to the refrigerator,and opened a beer. My wife Lorraine came in , gave me a hug and asked if I'd watch the kids for awhile so she could catch a short nap. They had worn her out mediating their fights and she needed some quiet time. I grumbled a quick OK or something and she quickly slid away for a few minutes of peace and quiet.
My little wolves were in the back yard, fighting and screaming at each other, when I got this brilliant idea . We had driven out to a fruit stand earlier in the day and we had two bushels of ripe peaches sitting on the counter in the kitchen ready for my wife to make her peach jam for this year.
I scooped up a couple of peaches in one hand and the trusty kitchen knife in the other as I headed for the door. Today's lesson was going to be frith in the home , I thought.
" C'mon kids , let's have a treat". My oldest ( Jerry ) was the first one on the deck and as he saw me holding the peaches he asked , " Dad,does Idunn carry peaches in her basket too ? " . " No son , " I smiled , " she only carries apples , but peaches are a gift from the Gods as well, so let's have a seat and let's see how good these peaches are."By this time, My wife Lorraine must have wondered why the noise had subsided because she had come through the sliding screen beside us and was watching the impending peach feast.
The youngest boy ( Joe ) was going to be three in Febuary and he had been playing without a shirt in the yard. It was cool in the shade of the porch and he was shivering a little. "Are you cold son", I asked."Eah, he said. I took this to be an affirmative answer and decided to get him another shirt when I was finished dividing up the first peach.
Getting back to the business of how I was going to present this topic of frith in the home,I saw a dirty blue tee shirt slip over the head of the oldest and then slip over the head of his younger brother. As Jerry helped his little brother get his arms into the sleeves,I realized what was happening here.
These kids had been fighting with one another all day but when it came down to one of them being in need, they were kinsmen. Yes, these are my folk and the Gods had decided that this time it was my turn to learn from them.
The peaches got split up and eaten and the little wolves went back to play without another word from Dad . About that time, Lorraine asked me if I had talked to them about their behavior. " Nope , sometimes I think it's better to just listen. She understood and I got another hug .
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