It Was Just a Thursday!

I am going to attempt to recap my turkey day for you...

• Awakened at 4 AM by alarm clock, no rest for the wicked!
• Made breakfast for husband and packed his lunch
• Prayed child would go back to sleep after husband slammed the door on his way out of the house at 5:00 AM
• Awakened at 7 AM to the sound of things being pulled out of my pantry by said child, who obviously did not go back to sleep.
• Made coffee, made banana nut muffins that child requested, then turned down.
• Tried to watch a rerun of The Sopranos (sorry, but mafia brightens my day!!) on television, found it replaced this turkey day by some silly crime detective show.
• Attempted to watch the Macy's day parade, hoping to begin a mother daughter tradition, only to be trumped by daughter and forced to sit through Alvin and The Chipmunks for the seventh or seventeenth hundred (I have quite frankly lost count!) in the past two days.
• Hearing the chipmunks singing caused a new wave of nausea to set in and I retreated to my bathroom for a hair and makeup session. If I feel bad, I might as well at least look good. Death could come at any moment, don't want to be unprepared!
• Feeling sorta down and disappointed about the outcome of my thanksgiving day, decided to make dressing to enjoy with some cranberry sauce I had stashed in the fridge.
• No celery or chicken broth in the house, oh well, I improvised!
• Parents called saying they were coming over to save the day with lunch from The Colonel - two piece white, original recipe, mashed potatoes and coleslaw. Yipee, the day was saved. I hurried to dress myself and the Chipmunk Queen.
• Fifteen minutes before my parents were to arrive, they called. Yep, you guessed it, The Colonel was closed. So my parents arrived with only a coconut pie.
• We decided on ham sandwiches and chips, oh and the dressing I had made.
• But wait...no bread, so I had to defrost a loaf in the microwave. The excitement of the day just continued.
• In the midst of all the "preparation" for lunch, my otherwise "delightful" four year old decided to have a melt-down, perhaps it was after she got the answer to her question of "Where's the chicken, actually?" I don't remember, but she melted down and I had to step in and be Mean Mommy for a minute. For all my troubles, I was awarded the "YOU RUINED MY DAY!" award as she slumped in the hallway and cried. (Can I tell you this was the highlight of my day -- I think I finally may be doing something right --- raising a kid, it is such a kick!!)
• After lunch we enjoyed a piece of my mom's coconut pie, some coffee and a few more outbursts from the four year old who had a "ruined day".
• I decided she needed a nap. Packed her up and sent her to bed. My parents went home to nap as well.
• I laid on the couch, covered up with my favorite blanket and snuggled down for a nap.

Exhausted, sad, tired, and desperately wishing I could be somewhere else, I finally let the tears roll on out of my eyes. It felt good to let them out. It was a good cry, a "let it all go" cry of which I am fast becoming quite the expert in these last few weeks.

My Turkey day was not. It was a dressing and cranberry sauce day with a tiny bit of coconut pie thrown in for good measure. I stood all day long in my kitchen, just like every year, only this year, I was doing very little cooking, just some defrosting, dish washing and checking the computer for an email that didn't arrive. My table was not set with elaborate china, only Chinet. My place mats were neither fresh nor pressed, the napkins were paper, thin and plain. There was no bird, no potatoes, no corn, no beans, no apple cake or even lane cake for that matter. We had no rolls, no butter, no bing cherry salad, and the sweet potato souffle and the mac and cheese were absent as well. But what we had, as we bowed our heads, we were truly thankful for and I guess in some weird way it was enjoyed.

As I laid on the couch, thinking it all through, I willed myself to try and remember that just because we weren't celebrating with the rest of the world this day, doesn't mean that we won't have a nice celebration on Saturday with family and all the good food and desserts we were all craving today. I tried to remember that my joy comes from somewhere else, not this world with all it's disappointments and change of plans. That just because my holiday doesn't look like a Norman Rockwell painting doesn't make it any less of a treasured time.

Thinking about my day and the way it had all turned out made me want to wallow in my sadness, to moan and groan the bad luck. But honestly, now, in the dark of my kitchen as the house is clean and quiet, I am thinking it wasn't such a bad day. I got to spend it with my child, spend time my parents and even get in a small nap... what more can a girl wish for and even more, look how much I have to be thankful for, a wonderful family and a sweet home. I am truly blessed, blessings I all too often take for granted.

I am trying really hard not to miss the lesson in this one, trying really hard!

I hope your Thanksgiving was grand. Tell me about it. I would love to enjoy the memory with you.

Living Happily In The Moment!
Beverly