A Funny Thing Happened on the way to Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving  is my favorite holiday. So many good times.  The year Kevin cooked the turkey "upside down" and it was absolutely delicious.  The year the government shut down and we headed for Connecticut and joined Jody's family and Eric's mom.  We've had many a good turkey day at both Jacky's and Terry's and at least one with Colleen and her family.  Kelly always works on Thanksgiving.  Maybe one of these days she can ease up. She works so we can fly.

When we lived in New Jersey we rotated between our house, our mom's and my sister Patsy's.  Everyone remembers the year of the controversy over whether Joe or Uncle  Ted dropped the turkey at mom's house.  And then the year mom mixed up the sugar and the flour and we had creamy cranberry sauce. One of the best turkeys I've ever had was cooked outdoors in Florida by my sister Janis.  It wasn't Thanksgiving, but I'll always remember that turkey. In Illinois we often shared the holiday with the Shefte crew - lots of fun and Bud's good cooking.

 Last year was only so-so.  We  had made a business decision to leave for Tucson early. We visited  my aunt and cousins for cocktails, and I  enjoyed actually getting to cook Thanksgiving dinner after years of letting the kids host it.We invited a few stray neighbors to join us but - it was  not the same.  We missed sharing a table with at least some of our kids.

This year we knew we had to be in Tucson early again so we made a plan with our Illinois kids to stage a "faux Thanksgiving" on November 14th in Oak Park.  Everybody had their assignments and Joe and I were looking forward to renting a Zip Car and heading west on the Ike, hopefully loaded with pies, wine and whatever.

What's that old saying about "the best laid plans of mice and men.........."?

On November 8th,  as I was leaving a business meeting in Tampa, I learned that one of my mother's remaining sisters, our beloved Aunt Jul, died peacefully after almost 94 years of a kind, blessed and sharing life.  On November 11th I was back on a plane for her funeral on the 12th and returned to Chicago on the 13th to be sure I'd have time to make at least a few dishes for our early Thanksgiving.

This is where life interferes with plans.........

Joe had complained of flu-like symptoms when I talked to him on the phone.  He thought he might have food poisoning.  When I got home he was really hot and delirious (not because he was happy to see me).  By early evening he wasn't  making sense  and was unable to hold anything down, so we made our way to the ER at Northwestern.  For a Saturday night it was pretty quiet, although busy as usual.  A team of seemingly teen-aged doctors took over, ordering every test known to man and trying to stabilize his temperature and other signs before they could diagnose and possibly release him.  At midnight  they finally admitted him. I went home and made cranberry sauce for the feast in Oak Park.

Early Sunday morning the doctors ( I can't say enough about their skills and their compassion) decided that his gall bladder was coming out - but not until Monday.  I was pretty useless sitting around the hospital while he slept and the wonderful nurses kept tabs.  That's when I decided to head out west myself after all.  No Zip Car - I won't drive in Chicago - but my CTA Blue Line got me to Oak Park Avenue in record time. 

 Laden with only cranberry sauce and some cheese, I was picked up at the station by Carrie, who is a recent driver, and Jack who is one year behind her at OPRF You haven't felt old until your grandchildren become your chauffeurs. We had a wonderful time, and a few jokes about what might have caused Joe's distress.  I was delivered home by the Crystal Lake contingent along with leftovers for both of us. After checking in with Joe, I started on the new plan.

Monday morning I cancelled our flight for Wednesday and, as agreed, we re-booked for the following Tuesday. After donating the Monday night opera tickets back to the Lyric I headed out for the hospital. By six o'clock in the evening, Joe was minus a gall bladder and I had  spent many fearful hours reading a book and a half.

By the following Monday it was obvious that we were not up to travelling yet, so we rebooked for Thursday.  Yes, Thanksgiving Thursday.  The travel peak had passed and we made it smoothly to Tucson with SWA's generous snacks and of course, their offer  of a free drink if you travel on Thanksgiving.

We arrived in Tucson to a dead car and scantily stocked pantry.  Plenty of beer and wine and snacks.

Today the car is fixed and I will shop.  Maybe the turkeys are on sale.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  Next year ...... well - we'll think about it next year.