Looking back at Thanksgivings past I have fond memories of my childhood. I remember we used to get up early and go over to my Pepere' and Memere's(french for grandpa/grandpa) house and we would watch the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. Pep would be in the kitchen cooking his fall off the bone turkey in wine while I would sit in his big green leather chair in a room that smelled of cigars and watch the parade. Eventually my family would begin to arrive, my uncle Ron was always the last one to show, he was a football coach for one of the top football schools in the state and then we would sit down to dinner. Tim was always the first one at the bowl of black olives and there are pictures of him with a face full of 50 of 'em. Pep always made the food and it was always top notch, my Grandmother would make the pies.
We did that every year during my childhood, for some reason Thanksgiving was a Dutilly holiday and we always spent it at my Fathers parents and then dropped in to visit my mothers side of the family.
Later in life we would have moved to Florida and Thanksgiving was spent with my Stepfathers family. Thanksgiving was one of the only holidays where my Uncle Ray might make it over from California and all of his brothers would be together. AL's family has accepted my family as there own and Grandma and my mother would take the time to make most of the dinner while my Stepfather, a chef would usually make the turkey. We would all gather together and the guys would shoot pool together while the ladies set everything up. It was a great event spent with many, many laughs as we told stories of our childhoods and everyone laughed. It seemed like every year we told the same stories, but every yeart they got funnier. I always am brought to a smile when I think of my Mother and my Uncle Paul doing impressions of "Baba" (Russian) the mother of my Grandmother. Good times we would have playing boardgames and being truly grateful that we had each other, as a lot of us are not related by blood, but we all remain tight-knit. My mother and my Grandma always made sure everything was perfect, they were like two peas in a pod, yin and yang, I miss Grandma.
Now things have changed, people have passed on and life is much different. My Brother and Sister and I are all grown up and have our own places. We are the only family within a hundred miles or so, so this year we are beginning new traditions. This year we are meeting at my Sisters house and each bringing a dish, just us kids and we plan to spend the day laughing and watching the parade and some football. I am really thankful to have my Sister and Brother here in the town that we grew up. I can't help but notice right now that we are all grown up. While we will spend some of the day on SKYPE visiting our family in other States' Thanksgiving table, tyhis one is our own. I can't help but be attentive to the fact that one day it is just going to be us and our children having Thankgsiving and bringing dishes and soon it will be our children sitting in the big chair watching the parade. Grateful we are to have a wonderful family and it is apparent to me that the torch is being passed and there will be a time when we are the parents and Grandparents and our parents might not be around. I hope that we take the time this Thanksgiving to be grateful for the lives and families that were given to us and to appreciate who we have become and the people who took us here.
I hope that you all have had or have a wonderful Thanksgiving. If there is something that is very difficult in your lives right now or you are alone, please try and get out and share somehow and pay attention to the things that you have. While we all have our struggles in life and the economy has peoples pockets empty, there are a lot of people who have it a lot worse. Poor people in this country have cable TV, air conditioners and food stamps where they can choose the foods that we want and still live a lot better than people in 3rd world countries where there may just be one choice, like rice.
Remember that family may not always be there and take the time to drop a call and say something nice, tell your Grandmother that she is the most beautiful woman in the world and buy someone a flower. Live this day the best that you can with tue thanks in your heart and I promise you, you will feel great and you will be making memories!
“My life has crept so long on a broken wing
Thro’ cells of madness, haunts of horror and fear,
That I come to be grateful at last for a little thing.”
–Alfred Lord Tennyson
~1 Love
Tilly
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