GIVING THANKS

FROM NOVEMBER 2006
I know I'm over a week late with this entry, but I still wanted to reflect a little bit on my Thanksgiving. This year Thanksgiving was different than what I had gotten used to from the past few years. Traditionally, I have gone to my brother's house where his family cooks a great meal and I hang out all day, playing games, etc. This year I geared up for the same event, purchasing a few of the ingredients needed to make the dishes that I have been asked to bring for several years in a row.

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, my mom called to ask what I was doing for Thanksgiving. I replied that I planned to do what I usually did (which is also where she goes). She had said she hadn't heard from my sister-in-law yet. I told her that she probably didn't need to worry, I hadn't heard from her yet either. My sister-in-law is sometimes a bit last minute when it comes to these things, and so I hadn't really worried about it. So my mom said she'd give her a call just to make sure they were carrying through with their traditional plans. Shortly after my mom called to tell me that they had decided to go to my sister-in-law's aunts this year and not cook a dinner at their house.

I was a bit ticked. She could have called us, a week before even, to let us know so we could make alternative plans. But I began to realize that I shouldn't be so quick to assume I can just show up at someone's house to be fed. And I could have called her to check in just as well. The next morning my sister-in-law called to apologize for forgetting about us. I accepted her apology but denied her invitation to join them at her aunts house.

So for Thanksgiving I joined my mom at her house, where I grew up. We didn't have turkey or the usual "fixings". But it was still a very nice dinner. And best of all, I spent some quality time with my mom alone. It's not that I don't have the opportunity to spend time with her, it's that I don't take the opportunity as often as I should. After we ate, we spent some time reviewing some of the family history that she has so much of. I helped her burn copies of some onto discs that she wants to give to family for Christmas. I also burned her some of my Christmas music that I had stored on my computer. And all along the way she jabbered (as usual) about many different things. Sometimes her jabbering gets a bit tiring... and yet I remind myself that she won't always be here and I should be thankful for the moments that I get to hear her talk of the many things she is doing.

It was a great day and I felt very thankful for the way it turned out.