HAPPY THANKSGIVING
Thanksgiving 2003
I’m a babyboomer from the forties and the product of the families of that era. One side was three sons and the other side two sons and three daughters. I was the first grandchild, but was soon followed by many others. I remained an “only child” but the many cousins I had were an extended family for me. Get-togethers were a constant and there was always someone to play with or another “cousin” to visit. The Big Show though was the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays. With the size of the families and everyone living in apartments, I always had two of Thanksgiving and two of Christmas every year. On the same day! Now those of you who are of the post Vietnam generations may not be aware of the significance that was given to the family aspect of these festivities. If a family group didn’t gather all it’s members under one roof for these holidays, it meant there was a real war on. Attendance was obligatory! And if you were married, and the distance was less than 200 miles, you went to both parents houses! No excuses.
Well as I grew older I garnered many “ special privileges”. I could run to the corner store for the “forgotten ingredient” or that roll of film or another six-pack of beer. I could play dolls with my female cousins to entertain them and simultaneously play cards with the boy cousins, (or wrestle around in our “Sunday Best”). I’d be relieved from babysitting to “get more chairs” or mash the potatoes. I grew through it all and after what seemed an eternity, I graduated to the big folks table. I still had many tasks to accomplish, but I sat at the big table with the adults. Not the kids table. I was a young man in the eyes of the family.
Well many years have gone by and many changes have come. The head of the table has changed many times and now I sit in the chair of honor. As I look down our very shortened seatings, I see many empty chairs in my minds eye. Uncles and Aunts, Grandmas and Grandpas, even cousins who have not been gifted with long life. I see those friends who chose to bother with me, as I with them. I see cousins and their families, geographically separated, but here in spirit as they have a place in my heart. (They’re still quite small though, I keep them young so I’ll not grow old!)
Maybe it’s the smell of turkey in the oven that makes me wax nostalgic for those days of innocence before the real world descended on me, but it’s feeling very lonely here at the head of the table. I miss so many I loved who will never grace that holiday table again. But then that has not changed. I know my gramps sat in this place and looked down a long groaning board, and saw those place settings, though only in his mind, the napkins folded and unused, chairs empty, and never to be filled the same way again.
There are new tenants for the table, and they are a demanding and uncouth lot. You have to watch them with an eagle-eye or the house will be torn asunder! My wife is cooking the turkey, and I have to drive to the 7-11 to get some batteries for the digital camera. I have to take two of the kids with me because everyone else is to busy to watch them. Oh, and I have to stop at my friends house to pick up some folding chairs. My cousins coming over later. He has three kids!
Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yeah the Big Ones. I’m older and the seatings have changed, but there is much to be thankful for. Someone had a custom of spilling a drop of beverage for the souls of the departed. Well, with rugs and such I’d be in big trouble. So I’ll just say I’m thankful to all those who have gone before. They put me in this seat at the head of the table, and for that I am grateful. I’d rather it was by vote than by default, but that is life, and they knew it. That’s why they all made at least a little contribution to who I am today. As I sit here I am really thankful to them. When it’s no longer my seat, I‘ll be grateful to if someone remembers me with love and affection for all the good things I’ve done.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Stakddek
AI
