The "Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving" Story

It was an ordinary day. Thanksgiving in real time. Was up at 6:00 AM. Not to get the turkey in the oven, but to head to school to print the program for the high school football banquet which is next week. It seems it's tough to get in the school and find an open copier to do the job. The program is run on 11"x17" paper and has 20 pages. Very few photos so I just run it on the copier. Have to fold, assemble and trim it. Back home by 10:00 AM with the program finished. Dinner today will be at ourdaughter-in-law's (Barb) mother's house. They have been gracious enough to invite us for the lastfew years. Our daughter lives in Maryland and is having dinner at her house for her in-laws and family. They will arrive Friday evening and we will celebrate Thanksgiving at our house on Saturday with 17 people. We were supposed to pick up my mom at theretirement home where she resides, but got a call shortly after I got home from school telling us she didn't think she wanted to go out in the rain today. I've learned over the past few years that it is better to say OK than to try to convince her that she will have fun if she goes. Years ago Carol's grandmother, Mom-Mom, came to our house for Thanksgiving. She didn't want to, but Carol's dad insisted that his mother come. Fine with us, since he had to convince her and pick her up from her apartment in Lancaster. She was fine until our plates were full of turkey and stuffing, and then sheTHREW UP all over her plate! Reallygross!! Had to clean up the mess, Carol's dad had to take her home, and we had to try to get back to eating with the smell of throw-up in the dining room. Fun Thanksgiving! That's why I don't push my mom to attend if she doesn't want to. Left for our daughter-in-law's mom's (Etta and Bill) house at 12:30 PM for the 1:30 PM dinner. They live in Elizabethtown which is a half hour away. Taking along small loaves of Carol's famous pumpkin bread and a few large loaves for dinner. Barb had told us that we had a pre-dinner show which would include her mom playing the bells, gathering for a song, a reading, and sharing what we are thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day. There were 15 in attendance. We arrived shortly after 1:00 PM and found we had just missed the bell songs. Didn't miss the other pre-dinner activities, though. Everyone was thankful for familyand friends with a few travel thank-you's thrown in. Time to eat. The traditional dishes were on the table along with somewhat nontraditional fare of deviled eggs, sausage stuffing, pickled beets and pretzel fluff. Dessert was your usual pumpkin and apple pie along with small individual cheesecakes in honor of Bill who was celebrating his birthday. I wasn't the oldest one there I found out. Not even the second oldest. A little bit of conversation and TV followed before we headed home. When we got home Carol found she had a text message from our daughter Brynn in Maryland. Seems our granddaughter Courtney, who has Juvenile Diabetes, had been ill in the morning and became dehydrated so Brynn and our son-in-law Dave took her to the Frederick Hospital's emergency room where they tested her and immediately placed an IV in her arm to give her fluids. This happened while she was preparing for over 20 people today for her 1st Thanksgiving dinner ever. The guests pitched in to help while mom and dad took Courtney to the hospital. Brynn was now home to take over the dinner and Dave is staying with Courtney, who hopefully will be home by dinner so she won't miss the turkey. As I'm finishing my story for the day at 7:00 PM, Carol is baking 2 cherry pies for our Saturday Thanksgiving at our house and we are awaiting a call from Maryland with hopefully some good news. We need one more thing today to be thankful for today. It was an extraordinary day in the life ofan ordinary guy. PS - pixs from top are: Carols pumpkin bread, Etta's bells, Etta playing our sing along song, the dinner table (with the hats it almost looks like Christmas), Bill celebrating by blowing out the candles on the cheesecake and Carol's all-time great cherry pies.