The Big Day

Thanksgiving will never be just another day, not even when I had nowhere to go and walked down Suncrest in tears with my loyal Lab Kate; not the year one of my kids and I had a huge fight and ended up at VI for tuna melts and then a movie; not when I was an uncomfortable guest at a relative stranger's table, or ran off to Taos with friends. Not the years we did not get home for Thanksgiving, all those years at table without my beloved parents. It is not just another day for me. Yesterday we made pies and rolls and dressing; today we will make a casserole, potatoes, turkey and dressing for leftovers (when we return from a weekend road trip) as we drink mimosas and listen to The Splendid Table Turkey Triage program. Later, we go to the neighbors, bringing appetizers, wine and pumpkin and pecan pies. This day we will read the papers, discard the ads, watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with the sound off. Monique, my current Lab, will be regularly and firmly kicked out of the kitchen. We will watch "Home for the Holidays" and drink more mimosas, and maybe fit in a nap before dinner. It's Thanksgiving, and we are thankful it is not just another day.