Hello God, it’s me, Mara:

You know, Lord, November is a ‘thankful’ time. A friend remembered when she was growing up how her Grandma always set a huge table for her dear family. “J.L.” recalled that Grandma would tell them that this was the perfect time to start ‘cheerleading on paper’. Grandma had a stack of paper and had each person write their name on the top, then all the slips of paper were dropped into a basket. After a most delicious meal, everyone drew a name from the basket.

“J.L.” remembered everyone being very quiet and with pen or pencil and paper, they were to...