Thankful

 Here we are! The end of November. The pandemic has reared it's ugly head again and the stupid people of this area aren't doing what's being asked of them, and so we're in a bit more of a lock down. 

The message given is to limit your family time for Thanksgiving. Which, as it turned out, wasn't too hard for us. 

Originally, it was to be Janet, The Niece and the Niece's girlfriend. So, being ever organized, I bought for 6 people - 4 to eat and then leftovers for everyone. 

The next day, literally, we find out the Niece has to work and the girlfriend isn't off her ship yet. So it'll be just Janet and I...with LOTS of food. 

I managed to find a 16 lb bird. It was so hard to buy a small bird. For as long as I can remember we've bought a 22 or 24 lb bird. So that's what I buy...regardless of the 3 of eaters at the table. Ahem. This time, there was ONE turkey left, so I grabbed it up. 

Day of Thanksgiving I get a call from Blueberry and her plans fell through and could she join us. Lord knows we had enough, so come on over. 

And so we laughed. We talked. We ate...and we ate some more. As is tradition, we had clam dip as we waited for the bird to cook. Checked the bird after about 2 hours (of the 3 it was to be in) and it was DONE! So we hopped to it and got the sides going. 

I spent some time the Friday after thinking about the Thanksgiving we had now 7 years ago. When we were in the hospital with Ric. It is one of those Thanksgivings that is the worst and the best all in one. The day of Thanksgiving I had run to Fred Meyer to buy something dinner ish. We sat in the waiting room eating in silence. All knowing that in the next couple of days we will have to say good by to Ric. Our hearts were breaking and there was nothing we could do about it. We all already felt the loss. 

We ate. We didn't talk. We waited some more. 

Then Friday evening we were still greeting people who were coming to say their goodbyes to my brother. The elevator dinged, a sound we had been conditioned to turn and look at the door when we heard it, and the door opened. We expected to see one or two people at most. Instead we saw a FULL elevator. Each person in the elevate carrying food. Ric and Janet's friends had brought us a FULL Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. They had tables. They had table clothes. They had decorations for each table. They had plates and silverware. They had wine. They had thought of everything. Even now I tear up just thinking about it. So much love in a room full of people who were all grieving. 

Phew...gotta go get a kleenex. Man. Still makes me cry. I miss that guy so much. Tomorrow will be 7 years since we said goodbye to him. He's missed every day and thought of often. 

And so here we are, about to start the last month of 2020. It can't get over soon enough. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving whether you were with family or not.