I love this photo of my dad and me in the backyard of Mom and Dad’s House
My Dad’s Turkey Birthday
My dad had the fun, or challenge, of having Thanksgiving fall on his birthday every once in a while. His birthday is Nov. 22 and it would take its turn as the 4th Thursday of the year. Dad’s been gone for almost 10 years now. He passed just a few months after my 50th birthday at the ripe old age of 87. So it is wild to think that he would be almost 100! (Almost as wild as coming to terms that I am almost 60 yikes!)
Dad loved Thanksgiving no matter if it hijacked his birthday or not, because of all things in his life, Dad loved having his family around. Not only us kids, but ALL of his family – cousins, 2nd cousins, 2nd cousins twice removed (and being a genealogist he even knew what that means). We often went to Grandma’s (his mother) and ate with a passel of shirt-tail relatives and friends who I didn’t know all the rest of the year.
There was pie and turkey and all of the trimmings and running around Grandma’s blueberry farm and fishing out minnows in coffee cans and tossing walnut pods plucked from unmowed grassland that has fallen from monster trees. There was me, the youngest, and only girl, tagging along with my “boy cousins” who got progressively cooler and more “out of my league” but who let me hang with them anyway.
Almost every year of my life I sat around Grandma’s mahogany table for Thanksgiving. And I took possession of it in college after she entered a retirement community due to a broken hip. I cried. That table was beautiful and I loved it. But my student affordable apartment was not the place for Thanksgiving. So that table became the place for books and bills and hats and coats and hopeful dates and crazy all nighters.
It graces my dining room today. It almost ended up in the dump as it had fallen to pieces over the years. But when Mark and I remodeled our kitchen and bathroom a few years ago, the wonderful cabinet artisan who came to measure my bathroom, saw it and said, “We cannot let this beautiful wood go”. So he took all of the pieces with him and totally rebuilt the table and chairs and I cried with happiness that this part of my history still lived – even though my dad did not.
Here is Grandma’s table in all of its restored glory. Another cool thing I love is the matching china hutch is actually my mother’s mother’s – so I have a matching “Grandma” dinning suite.
Today both of my parents are gone, as are Mark’s. We will share our table with a new friend. A new shirt-tail relative. I think Dad would love that on his Turkey Birthday.
xoxoxox
Hi my brave friends. I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately. 2018 has been a rough go of a year for me. It just doesn’t seem to end. I started the year out in bankruptcy. I lost my long time best pal Toby my pup this year. I got in the car accident was a hit-and-run my car was totaled and I walked away with absolutely nothing. Thankful for no injuries but still no car no down payment had filed bankruptcy so no credit it was a serious sad situation. Also this year I lost my mother. Another hard hard thing to deal with. And as if all of those things that weren’t enough to keep a good dog down I have a foot injury that has just been a progressive life injury due to the structure of my feet, excessive obesity and then a lot of high intensity cardio as my podiatrist said I was not gifted in the genes and feet. I have to have surgery on my left foot I have not been able to walk normally for sometime, I’m gimping around in a robo boot. Not a fun time. And of course my gate is off and I’m starting to feel ailments in all parts of my body. I’m terrified of the surgery I’m terrified of anesthesia and the recovery. I will be down like no weight bearing down for at least two weeks if not three weeks and then after that it will be slow going and intermittent as to what I’m capable of or not. I’m pretty scared and nervous all balled up into one. I chose to get my surgery done on December 21 because I need to get it done this year due to my insurance having met my deductible and out-of-pocket. Also the immediate two weeks following the surgery my 11-year-old niece will be available to stay with me and help me as they are on school vacation. I figured I would have to miss some significant amount of work and thinking about my job I figured that the two weeks of holidays would be the best time to miss work. One great thing happened though. My job is going to let me work remotely from home. I’m so excited on a couple levels. One I will not go crazy sitting on my couch for two weeks doing nothing. Two I have control issues and someone else doing my job does not sound appealing. Three there really isn’t anyone else to do my job so parts and pieces of it would be farmed out and that would even be a more of a mess. I wasn’t worried financially because I have benefits that would assist me to get paid. From corporate America. Unfortunately I work 4 jobs. 3 of those jobs will be compromised during this time. It makes me sad but what do you… I would be lying if I didn’t admit I’m also afraid of the weight gain that could possibly enSue. Around October I started kind of obsessing about my weight again. And trying to make some choices to help that. I have maintained at a higher than I like weight for a significant amount of time. It seems like no matter what I do I stay at this weight. If I diet down if I over exercise if I under exercise if I eat out a lot if I cook at home it just seems like no matter what I stay at this weight. Some might consider that a gift I consider it frustrating. Needless to say I chose to start making some decisions to alter my weight. Immediately I Saw results It was completely exciting 6 pounds in a very short amount of time. Well guess what friends I gained 6 pounds back in a very short amount of time doing the same things to lose it… it’s really crazy I just guess my body has found its place?!. maybe when you go from 415 pounds down to 155 back up to 230 that’s where you belong?ugh
Thanks for listening and helping me remember I’m brave.