Dear Editor
We had a preview of what Thanksgiving dinner conversations could look like this year when some of our family assembled for a meal and someone we hadn’t seen for a long time spoke up during a lull after the pie. She said, “So, you heard about your aunt discovering water on Mars?” Nobody moved their eyes, especially the in-laws. The people under 35 kept their faces absolutely neutral. We resisted our old fall back, “How ‘bout those Blue Jays?” Instead, someone said, “Really?” And, as it turns out, Aunt Elena, an astrophysicist, really did discover water on Mars. Maybe even a lake. Or an aquifer. We had to google that, too.
Janet Beaubien
Battleford
