The Cupertino Courier

First Word

Thanks to Alice--and the millions before us

By Jon Hoornstra

My family of three was given a corner table at Hobee's restaurant in Cuper-tino last Wednesday to enjoy a meal prepared, served and cleaned up by America's favorite person: someone else.

The sun had been down for only an hour, so thousands were still fully engaged in traffic on the rainswept highways. It was the night before Thanksgiving Day, and first on my list of items for which I was grateful was that we were off the road and inside a dry and warm place, able to enjoy a quiet meal.

I warmed my hands around a cup of hot coffee, quickly found the menu item I would order, downshifted my brain into a slow gear and began to play America's second most favorite game (baseball is first): watching other people.

Hobee's is a pretty popular place, so I soon had a roomful to watch. In a slight twist on the spirit of Thanksgiving Day, I decided to try to discern what other people might be thankful for by watching them, rather than tabulating my own list.

Seated nearby was a couple in their early thirties. The woman held an infant of perhaps eight months and the man supervised a toddler who occupied her own seat. The woman held the infant's bottle at the universal feeding angle, while the man wiped up messes and retrieved items needed from the big bag of baby gear. When they could, the two read the menu, ordered and eventually fed themselves. There was no yelling, no crying. It was as though Norman Rockwell had painted them into the restaurant scene.

Another couple, early twenties, seated at the outside wall, were, I wager, not married. When I spotted them, the woman was trying to get ketchup to flow from the bottle to her plate. Tap, tap, tap--stare--tap, tap. But nothing moved.

The male took the bottle from her hand and delivered huskier taps, more like whacks, to the unimpressed ketchup. Still nothing moved. She took the bottle back, tapped three more times and the ketchup flowed. The two beamed at each other, pleased at what they had produced.

In fact, the restaurant was filled with evidence of tired but happy people amid signs of good fortune. From the small and whimsical episode of a young couple's friendly effort to get ketchup to move, to the grand and remarkable processes that produce healthy children, little of it is attributable solely to our own effort.

And that brings me close to identifying the central character of this column.

Note that Thanksgiving Day occupies an interesting place on the calendar. It comes shortly after we mark Veterans Day on Nov. 11, the day in 1918 when World War I ended, and just a few days before we mark the start of World War II on Dec. 7: two dates that mark extraordinary sacrifices by millions who came before us.

In October, 30,000 women met in Washington, D.C., to take care of some unfinished business. They crossed the bridges into Virginia to dedicate a memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in honor of all women who have served the military since 1776. One of our own, Alice Karejwa Loafman of Cupertino, attended the ceremonies.

When Congress authorized women in uniform, it was 1942 and young Alice Karejwa of Brooklyn was among the first to step up to the plate. She left home, trained in Florida and served until the end of the war at Army posts in Maryland, Georgia and Oregon.

It's an understatement to say World War II changed the world. But Alice and thousands of other women not only served, but survived. They married, had families and built the next generation of communities. Alice and Russ Loafman have helped build this community for the past 37 years.

There is much to be thankful for. By all means, take some credit for yourself. But most of it goes to countless others who came before us, especially people like Alice.

Thank you, Alice.

Jon Hoornstra is a Cupertino resident and a columnist for The Courier.

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