Home for the Holiday

It has been several years since I haven't worked on Black Friday. It has been many, many years since I traveled for the Thanksgiving Holiday. I can't, in my memory, place a time when we've ever traveled more than an hour to get to a the hosting relative's home. There were the two years when a baby was born at Thanksgiving. This meant that, for those two years alone, I was exempt from bringing a dish to pass. This year's Thanksgiving celebration, then, was quite different from our "usual Thanksgiving routine." We went farther (Pittsburgh) and stayed longer (4 days, 3 nights). It took a HUGE effort to coordinate the trip. I hired a neighbor to feed the farm animals and care for the old dog who stayed home. We found a kennel in PA so that the puppy could travel with us. Six suitcases packed along with the "food for an army." A Thanksgiving holiday of this lenghth and magnitude.... ...not just one big meal but several amazing, leisurely family gatherings around the dinner table. ...time to "go deep" with relatives. I learned that my grandmother was still subscribed to SHAPE magazine at the age of 82. Impressive. We poked through her discarded jewelry and she showed me her thread. I came home with a new box of buttons. ...time for tragedies, like a contact lense that broke itself in two (inside my eyelid). The ride home was painful. The six year old was exceptionally wiggly. I nearly died from a panic attack when we found ourselves in a stowstorm on a crowded highway (with the permit-carrying 16 year old at the wheel). We decided to stretch our legs at a bargain outlet with the puppy tied inside the car (windows down inside). In a matter of minutes he chewed through the brand new hand-made thick nylong lead my uncle made. And he chewed through five out of the six of the seatbelts in the van. The repair will cost hundreds. So much for a bargain! We did it...we took a long holiday road trip, we spent precisous time with relatives, and we created memories and stories that we will tell again and again.