3. Write about a memorable Thanksgiving.
Well it certainly wasn’t the happiest Thanksgiving we’d ever had. To be honest, Thanksgivings never really stood out as something super exciting to me. A whole day where I get to look forward to eating turkey and cranberries and mashed potatoes?
Puke.
If Thanksgiving were a feast of pizza and hot wings and ice cream cake then MAYBE it would have a leg to stand on, but don’t try to get me hyped up about a day of eating all of my least favorite foods.
The Thanksgiving that is most memorable to me occurred after my big brother was thrown from his car after hitting a patch of black ice on the other side of the state. I was in college and got a call that he had broken his back and was being airlifted to a hospital, but we didn’t know much more.
My family is good in emergency mode…it’s kind of “our thing”. I did my part of course, by shutting myself into my bedroom and crumpling to the floor in a puddle of tears. You would think that having experienced the death of my dad at a young age I would be accustomed to the idea that at any moment everything can go wrong. Unfortunately, I found the opposite to be true. I felt like I had paid my dues and that nothing was supposed to hit our family again after suffering such a huge loss.
Clearly now I know better.
Thank you Jesus for those awesome lessons.
When I pulled myself off of my bedroom floor I packed my bags and joined my sisters, brother, and step-dad for an impromptu road trip to meet up with my mom and sister who had flown to the hospital to be with my brother. We’re lucky he survived. He really shouldn’t have. You don’t get ejected from the sunroof of a van going God knows how fast on the Interstate and walk away.
We ate Thanksgiving dinner in the hospital with him that weekend. The cafeteria food was still a step in the right direction as far as I was concerned. And even though my brother was in an excruciating amount of pain with a broken back…I was happy. Because he was alive and flipping me off…just the way I like him.
Patty says
Thanksgiving, being what it is, brings about a backwash of emotions, good, bad or indifferent.
The prep involved, the inevitable family drama, the sadness over those we’re missing, but…it is a day where we pause to give thanks.
I can well relate to what you shared here, Kat, when I look back at gatherings where a family member was hospitalized and the dynamics of the holiday took on a much different spin. In your own way, you found much to be thankful for, all the “puke” aside.
Abby says
Yikes! Glad your brother pulled through and comfortingly flipped you off in the process.
John Holton says
Pizza, hot wings, and ice cream cake sounds like a great Thanksgiving dinner. What time should we be there?
Last year was unusual for us because we actually had a turkey. (Well, a turkey breast. Two people can’t eat a turkey fast enough that it doesn’t start stinking up the refrigerator.) We had been having ribs at either Thanksgiving or Christmas and lasagna for the other.
It seems that, at least once in a person’s life, a major holiday (Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving etc.) is accompanied by some sort of a tragedy. Your brother was very lucky that he lived through his accident, and it sounds like your family made the best of a bad situation and have some good memories of it.