Give thanks

I’m spending Thanksgiving with my family like countless other Americans today.

For me it means getting on a plane and flying to Ohio or Tennessee to see my sisters’ and their families. We’re lucky. We all get along really well. It could be in part because we don’t spend much time together, but I prefer to think it’s just because we genuinely like each other.

Food of course, plays a pivotal role at any gathering, but never does it take center stage like it does on Thanksgiving, where it is the temperamental leading lady, demanding weeks of preparation and coddling for a relatively short time on stage.

It’s my first Thanksgiving since James died, and I feel being surrounded by sisters, brother-in -laws, nieces, nephews and great nephews and nieces, helps. I still have the waves to deal with, and so find a quiet room amidst the craziness to have a cry over the loss of my partner at the groaning board.