Thanksgiving 2006

Thank God its Turkey Day and not Deer Day. I was able to walk within about 10 feet of this beautiful little buck. That is how my day started. Now this little man in training laid in the woods trying to keep warm and dry for many hours. When the rain broke, the young dude walked over and began to nibble on some plants. I walked out to the deck and there we were, man and deer gazing into each others eyes with compassion, understanding differences, and a peace.

Then my mother walks out the back door and around the side of the garage and screams..GET OUT OF HERE, LEAVE.....The deer startled at first, looked me in the eyes and slowly turned and walked away. I realized that we were the same. Not scared by my mother, but just did not want to put up with her nagging and yelling.

Other than that we had a great Turkey day. The meal fantastic. The turkeys were some special breed from the south of Spain. We argued about religion and politics and played name the tune with some old time standards. Two of the appys were great but one did not cook as well due to hot spots in my parents oven. As Meatloaf said..Two out of three aint bad.

Suzie although walked 12 times by my sister, let loose on the carpet with a stream of urine for no reason. She enjoyed the day but became overwhelmed and tired by all the attention. At one point she was unable to keep her eyes open and fell asleep in her mash potatoes. Go figure. She tried to blame it on the tryptophan. That was until we explained to her that she did not have any turkey. Then she just started to crack rats and blame them on me as well. I was only responsible for about 10%. The other 90% she was lying.

We stayed the night since it was a holiday. Will do it again on Xmas eve. I always like being home during Xmas and Thanksgiving. I remember when I lived in GA I would save the measly days off they would give me at GE and take them off at Xmas. I would have to argue and fight for the days and remind them that I did not have family in the area and if I did would give them the days off so they could spend it with their friends and family if they lived far away. They hated me big time.

The best part about Xmas in those days is that I had no money and would fly home once a year. It would be the Friday before Xmas. I would take the MARTA to the airport and fly up. I remember I would see the AC Casinos (when I was on the right side of the plane) and then as we came into Newark,would see the lineup of planes flying in a big circle, holding for a chance to land on time.

The greeting I would get at the airport was small but always at the gate. Today it is a hit and run pick up when we get someone at the airport. One time I came home we were able to take the new RT 24 all the way to Morristown which was amazing and so quick.

The best part about coming home was the following: Once you got home there was always turkey and other cold cuts laid out for you to make a sandwich. The next best part was for the first time in months, you woke up to the smell of coffee rather than getting up and making it yourself. You never forget moments like that in your life. Made you feel safe, made you feel taken care of.