Thanksgiving Eve and Some Memories

There's always something special about the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving. It means some time off from work for most of us, reflection for others, and anticipation of the meal that we're going to have the next day. Tomorrow I will be up in Gilbert, that's in Phoenix metro, to spend the day with my cousin Todd. His wife Annette, who happens to be a damn good cook has graciously decided to provide the meal for us. Todd and I kicked around the idea of preparing the main dish on the barbecue grill, but Annette wouldn't hear of it.

Yes, I know, turkey is traditional. And I'm a fan of tradition as much as the next guy. Yep, gimme some turkey, some stuffing, a load of those mashed potatoes and slather on that gravy. Baked beans? Sure. Pumpkin pie? You betcha. (I didn't mention cranberry; I've never been a real fan of that). Then off to the back patio for a long conversation ranging from next year's deer hunting trip and where to go, or maybe getting the clan together in Palm Springs or something. I figure it will be one of those days that will again be filed away under the Memories section of that organic computer that God gave me that I call my brain.

As I think about tomorrow and the drive up to Phoenix, I can't help but think about previous Thanksgiving Eves and the memories that they have provided me over the years. There are a few of them that stand out, a few that I come back to whenever another one of those Eves arrive.

The first one I think about is the one in 1975. That was Wednesday the 26th of November. I was not yet 17 years old, and we were living in Virginia at the time. We knew next month that we were moving to California. That evening my dad took us all up to Hatboro, Pennsylvania, so that we could have one last turkey meal with my Uncle Buss, Aunt Anne, and cousins Gary and Margie. Buss is one of my dad's older brothers, and while we were living on the east coast we would try to see them from time to time.

That particular day my mind was more on the purchase of the first album recorded by Bachman-Turner Overdrive. I had been a huge fan of them for over a year at that time, and I was looking to complete my musical library with every last song that they had ever done. I've always been partial to that album. It had a lot of great songs on it: "Gimme Your Money Please", "Hold Back the Water", "Blue Collar", "Down and Out Man" and "Don't Get Yourself in Trouble" were my favorites. Not only did it have some cool songs on it, the design and artwork of that album was the best that I had ever seen, and I think it's the best that I'll ever see.

Another day that comes to mind was one here in Arizona, in 2003. I drove up to Chandler (also in Phoenix metro) with Peggy. Peggy was a former girlfriend of mine back in 2002. We had really had quite the passionate romance but I wasn't able to jump in feet first on that one. It was the first serious romance since my divorce in 1999, and my mindset of the time was that I wasn't ready for a serious relationship. Somehow though we have managed to remain good friends over the years. I'm still in touch with her. She's living full time in Palo Alto, California these days. Eventually she'll return to Tucson but her job is very demanding and I suspect she'll be up there for the next several months.

Anyway, on that day of 2003, I left work early to pick her up. We drove up to her sister's, and after a run to Sam's Club and Fry's Electronics I was relaxing in the hot tub with her and her sister. Her sister had this Siberian husky named Bo, and ole Bo was really quite the character. He'd place his head in my lap knowing that I would instinctively scratch it. If I stopped scratching, he would growl at me. If I still didn't resume scratching, he'd start barking. Dang, he was as assertive as a cat when it came to wanting attention!

I don't think though that this evening is going to rank up with the two aforementioned evenings, aside from the fact that this year I have a blog whereas I didn't the years before. I can't remember what I was doing last year on Thanksgiving Eve. I do know that in years past I took the whole week off from work. I wanted to do that this year but I'm saving what little vacation time I have left for the year for next month's road trip to San Jose.

On another note, I am mindful that a lot of people this year don't have as much to be thankful for as I do this year. I don't know why, but that bothers me. I can in one way identify with them, having been there once. That was in 1998, when some severe adverse circumstances were going on for me.

I hope that those others can find their way out like I did.