2000-12-10 9:42 pm
Catchup from Thanskgiving
Thanksgiving has come and gone. I did get to see B! a little while she was in town on her world tour, but it was near enough. I sat and talked with her for about six hours here at the house on Friday night, drinking wine and in front of the fire, and it made me sad. It made me sad that I sometimes convince myself that with e-mail and telephones we can be as close as we once were. That is impossible. The live, face-to-face give-and-take is irreplaceable. I will miss her terribly. She ended up spending the night that night because she stayed so late and it was raining and I wanted her to stay until Mark got home in case she didn't see us again through the weekend. We did get together with her briefly on Sunday. She and her sister and her sister's kids and another couple and their kids and their friend and HER kid all went to the County Line for barbeque. Too many kids, too many people. She's in Amarillo now and will soon be on her way to her new home in Idaho.
Thanksgiving was very different this year. I promised Mark long before we married that I would spend Thanksgiving with his grandparents as long as they were living. It was a very important tradition to him and has become important to me as well. We have had some wonderful times there. His grandparents made the complete Thanksgiving meal, unassisted, into their 90s. Last Thanksgiving was Granddad's last and was incredibly sad. I was looking forward to this year's feast, knowing it would be happier because we wouldn't be "dreading" Granddad's death (he died Valentine's day this year) and we had a new baby in the family to celebrate.
Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, Austin was cold and rainy. I was ready to leave from work before Mark was ready to leave from home to drive to Tyler. I decided to come on home, grab some burgers and then we could eat and leave when he was ready. I ate the burgers as fast as I could so we could get on the road for the long long trip, when Mark begins to tell me some of his misgivings about going this year.
As it turns out, his grandmother has made some comments about Mark's cousin and her four daughters as being Grandmother's only "family." Apparently, since none of the rest of us have children, we aren't as esteemed in her eyes. I feel that this was a comment from a sometimes-addled 91 year old woman, but it upset Mark terribly. Especially since the family with the children are dirt-poor and siphon lots of Grandmother's money away to support their family.
Whatever the truth, Mark decided he didn't want to put up with more family drama on Thanksgiving. You can refer back to last year's Thanksgiving journal entries for previous drama. So we waited until Thanksgiving morning and we went to Krugerville to see my parents.
It was a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hadn't had Thanksgiving with my family since 1991. My sister almost cried when she saw that we were there. Even my nephews acted surprised and pleased to see us. They were 4 and 2 at my last Thanksgiving with them. I don't think they remember it (hell, I don't remember it).
My sister had brought a couple that had had a ski trip snowed out so we had a houseful of people. My mother is a wonderful cook and a wonderful hostess so everyone felt welcome and there was plenty of food, despite four extra guests. My parents have never been the kind of people that love for you to bring extras, nor do they like drop-in company. They were never the parents that wanted all the kids to be at their house. But, when the situation is there, they are wonderful and it was a great day. It was also great to be there and not have to leave. We spent the night and then went on to Mark's gigs in Dallas on Friday.
Fast forward to more current times. I went out with my co-workers Friday night. It was so fun to drink and carouse (sp?) with them. We drank at the Aquarium right after work, which has become a regular thing on Fridays. After, I went back to work (yes, I can DRINK and then go back to work--I love this job). Then, this same bunch and some others all went to the Broken Spoke to see another of our co-workers that is the drummer with the Rick Trevino band. It was a fun night of story telling and boasting and dancing and drinking. I love my job, I love my co-workers. Does that mean our company is doomed??????
The rest of the weekend has been Christmas-y. I visited my grandmother and showed her the quilt I'm working on to give to my mother for Christmas. Then I visited dear friends that fed me and enjoyed me dropping by. Last night I quilted as I watched TV and more TV.
Today I made turkey and dressing. We didn't get enough at Thanksgiving so I felt the need. Turkey is so much better, though, when someone else slices it and serves it. It can be pretty gross when you have to do all the greasy yucky stuff. The dressing was great though. I didn't do the whole Thanksgiving meal deal---no yams or anything green, no pie or dessert--just turkey and dressing and cranberry sauce. It was very soul satisfying.
No I will go back to quilting