Everyone else will be gathering with their families next week for Thanksgiving dinner.
My thanks and feasting will come this weekend, when, for the first time in more than six years, my offspring will both be here with me — along, of course, with my son-in-law and my grandson. And — unless something happens between now and then — my 88 year old mother.
I’ve been cleaning and cooking — pierogi — three different kinds; chocolate cream pies; potato salad; cooked Chex cereal; beef, bean, and macaroni soup — all the comfort foods from their childhoods. Well, not the soup. That’s a more recent addition to my menu.
b!X will meet his toddler nephew for the first time. He zig-zagged across the country in a 12-hour trip today (that’s what happens when you get a cheap flight) and should be arriving at his dad’s soon. His sister and her family will actually drive from Massachusetts to New York for the first time since they got their first drivers’ licences and their first car over the summer. This family reunion is a big deal for all of us.
I am thankful for the graces of this odd-ball family of mine. Thankful that we are all getting together while my mother can still enjoy their presence. Of course, I have lots of presents for them. And food. Lots of food. Love, you know.