A Moment in My Life – Monday, November 30, 2020
Happy Monday after Thanksgiving weekend! On Friday morning, I was going to write this column. Unexpectedly, I had to make a trip out first thing in the morning. I contemplated how to incorporate that trip into my work time when I suddenly remembered that I always took the Friday after Thanksgiving off when I was in the corporate world. That was a no-brainer then, so I continued my ritual to take Black Friday off. Good call. I was wasted from juggling my daily column writing and noveling along with everything else that I needed to do in my real life. Friday turned out to be a much-needed day off.
I hope every single one of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, however you spent it. I spent mine alone, probably like many people who were following the pandemic protocols. I hope you were as blessed as I was to have a good friend host a curbside meal pickup for Thanksgiving dinner. My BFF Iggy and her hubby Kev hosts a Thanksgiving dinner every year for those who don’t have family nearby. This year was no different, except they rose to the times with their curbside pickup.
This dinner, mind you, lacked nothing at all. It was a feast fit for royalty. They covered the essential traditional dishes of turkey, steak, gravy, sweet and mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, cornbread, and pumpkin spice bread. Adding their East Meets West flare with yummy sticky rice, fried shrimp dumpling, and chili pepper chicken wings. They completed the meal with apple pie and a chocolate crinkle cookie. They forgot to include the stuffing, but with that feast, it wasn’t missed. I felt like Christmas came early. This feast was way better than the simple turkey loaf that I was planning to make for my T-Day dinner.
I compared T-Day plans with a few friends, and I hear similar stories where they had prepared for a quiet dinner at home only to change their plans the day before. One friend ended up freezing their intended meal to accept the invitation to spend the holiday with nearby family. Another friend accepted their family’s invitation by bringing their dinner with them making it a potluck.
Other friends of mine ended up having an intimate dinner with their immediate family. I think that’s so special to do because your kids will move out and have lives of their own one day. This moment is an opportunity to enjoy your family as it is while you can. Next year, I expect life to resume with typical holiday celebrations where we group up with family and friends to celebrate together. For now, I am grateful to these people for doing their part to keep everybody safe.
The news said that many people wanted to celebrate with loved ones so badly that they crossed the protocol guidelines risking everyone’s safety. I can’t blame them, but I don’t condone their choices. Who knows? You never know if this might be the last holiday you spend with certain people, so I get it. We all have to make that right choice for ourselves and live with it. The bottom line is that we survived Thanksgiving in this pandemic the best we could, considering that this was a different Thanksgiving.
