This serene vision of Thanksgiving is certainly what I would like to remember. Ah, well. Being the baby of a family full of dysfunction my memories are mostly of tension..trying not to say or do the wrong thing and fling the Mum into a fit of anger or worrying about how I was going to dispense the huge portion of food that Mum piled upon my plate. It most likely was large, but being a very picky eater and Mum being a barely adequate cook I am sure my minds eye construed vast enlargements of the portions left for me on my plate.
If the lumpy gravy and the dry turkey did not dispense properly from said plate I was made to set at the table sometimes alone, sometimes with my sis for hours until I had swallowed the last bite and the plate was empty.
Father dear ate quickly as not to be drug into any family bonding or conversations and retreated to what sport favorite happened to be on the television at the time. A handy excuse for total withdrawal from family gatherings.
Certainly one of my joys was that for a few years we shared the dinner with the neighbors across the street, alternating homes (Lorraine was a better cook than Mum) and forcing my parents to at least pretend to like each other. It was an odd glimpse of how it was at one time or at the least...what could have been.
After I was married I was driven to try to make sure that Thanksgiving was perfect for my children...how odd that must have looked to the observer!
So here I am in 2007 accepting an invitation from a good friend to come for dinner, all my children everywhere but here.
Today I will give thanks for my sister, for my mother, for my children and my grandson and for my friends and for the luxury of living in a country where I have the freedom to say what I think, worship in the manner that my heart directs and feast at a table laden with the bounties of hard working hands. I will give thanks to those family and friends who have passed before me but embraced me for who I was and for what I learned from each one of them.
And I WILL give thanks.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
3 comments:
Hope your retreat was fun even though you were rained in.
Well, I think the photos and movies sometimes really set us up - every thing seems so perfect, and even if they are dysfunctional its funny and turns out ok, which is not the case in real life.
I remember not liking food until I reached adulthood (now I know why!) and realized there were things like tacos and pizza out there! To this day I can't stand sports on TV, nor mayonnaise.
I too tried to make the holiday perfect for family in my perfect house, and in turn I think I stressed everyone out of their gourds. Oooops.
Anyway this one was great - too much food but all yummy - every one pitched in so I am not sick today - Sage wants me to take him shopping - gaaaaaaaaaah - on "black" Friday?
You like your camera?
Dhhhirht Roahhhd Blues, hope everything is ok and that you aren't down, down, down, but just busy.
I refused to eat brussell sprouts (still do). The Dragon said "You don't leave the table until you eat them".
I was 6 years old. I threw them at her and most of them hit her on the head.
She kicked the shit out of me but it was well worth it!!!!
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