I have been on my own now for nearly four years. Quite an adjustment after being married to Diane for fifty four. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of her and miss her. A reality, but unfortunate part of life.
Typically, friends or/or family are guests on Thanksgiving. It has always been a holiday to share with important people in my life, but this year will be different. Family lives too far away, friends are having Thanksgiving in their new homes and with their families, so I’ll be celebrating the holiday on my own. Yes, despite my relic status, gruff personality and frumpy attire and demeanor, I have been invited to be a Thanksgiving guest with family and friends. I am truly blessed.
It is tough to decline invitations and explain. it is a complicated dynamic I am not sure I understand fully myself. All I know is that when I do attend an event or celebration away from home I feel I am on the outside of the gathering. Isolated and on my own. I get this thought in the back of my mind that I’ve left Diane at home, in an empty house, and I can’t engage or enjoy the company of these really good people.
So I will remain home and celebrate on my own. No, I will not hold a solitary seance, or set a missing woman table, or even be sorrowful. I will cook a turkey breast, make some sausage and rice dressing, bake a pumpkin pie, and even scare up some veggies. All the while I will hear her voice, reminding me the gravy is going to burn if I don’t take it off the burner, or not to forget the pie in the oven, or helping to arrange place settings, or her sneaking in a little kiss before we sit down and say grace.
And I will be happy in my memories, and I won’t feel alone.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Joe
Blessings to you Joe. May your heart as well as your belly be full this Thanksgivings.
Much appreciated, LD.
Joe
Weird timing: your posting popped up the same night my partner and I were trying to hash out the family dynamics of the upcoming holiday. Just a day, but we add so much emotional content to it. Still trying to sort through it-gonna sleep on it.
Thanks for another slice of Joe.
I’m thankful that you have lots of happy memories to keep you company this holiday season. Happy remembrances and enjoy your meal.
Scott
This is that time of the year, Bill. It is just a day, but they have the tendency of pulling along with them all of the memories of a life time and the good people we shared them with. Good luck with your sorting.
Joe
Thank you, Scott. You also.
Happy Thanksgiving, Joe. Through all the years of RealGuns and now TennyHill, your thoughts and commentary have been a bracing dose of logic, perspective, and wit. May your blessings and those of your family continue to increase.
Thank you so much, Bill. I am very fortunate to have good people of consequence read the things I write. Otherwise I would be talking to myself, and that wouldn’t be good.
The same to you and yours.
Joe , I just got to read your post. I was away at my Brother’s place ( Homestead Farm) to help bring down & load a grain drier. I stayed over as the next day was Pa. Deer Opener for firearms. I’ve not hunted big game for several years. This will be the first year of Deer season without Dad watching from the porch or house window as he passed September a year. His last seasons passed posting in the old wooden machine shed overlooking the upper 20 acre field, where he had harvested quite a few game animals in his last years. He had a penchant for taking single horned bucks for many years. Now the “Wagon Shed” (named for storing wagons of course during his youth) spot has been granted to me if so desired. Promptly at 07:00 two does & a legal single (3 pnt.s) horn buck trotted to 75yrds of me. I saw Dad’s buck ! I stepped out a bit to gaze at them & softly spoke to them to move on. I watched them bounce slowly away. It was good to be with Dad again.
Quite a day for memories and traditions. Especially when fathers live on through sons.
Joe