I am writing this on Thanksgiving Day, 2020. This week the pandemic primarily impacted Thanksgiving, and how we decided to celebrate the holiday. My husband and I just finished our Thanksgiving dinner for 2. We spent the day preparing it, and really enjoyed ourselves. I must admit, we were pleased with how it turned out. I was also reflecting on last Thanksgiving and how different this year is. Last year we hosted 13 people and 3 dogs. Our house was full of people, dogs and good cheer. We have a video of everyone at the table, busy talking and laughing. It was a truly wonderful and memorable day. This day was memorable, too, in a much smaller and quieter way. I do look forward to celebrating Thanksgiving again with our extended family, especially our children. However, I feel like we made the best of the situation this year, staying safe and keeping others safe, as well. One last note. I really missed my father today. He died 2 months ago. Although we didn't spend Thanksgiving with him since my mother died 7 years ago, I always spoke to him on Thanksgiving and we exchanged cooking tips and how the food came out. He was a really difficult person who could become enraged very quickly. I do not miss that part of him at all. However, when engaged around food and cooking, we could have nice conversations, especially when he was sharing tips with me. He made the best stuffing ever - pictured above. He always added apples, raisins and nuts. I hadn't had it in a long time but I found the recipe he dictated to me about 1 year after my mother died. I followed his recipe today, and it was almost as good as his It felt like a little bit of his good side was with us today.
November 27, 2020
This week I went to a "Getaway" cabin in Virginia. It was lovely. Just a small cabin with a bed, toilet and tiny kitchenette. I went with two writer friends, and we each had our own cabin so we didn't have to worry about anything covid-related. We hiked together, and then at night built a fire. It was really cold, in the 30s, and the fire felt very healing. Very primal. We toasted marshmallows and chatted late into the night. It was wonderful to be out in nature, breathing clean air. I felt very lucky. Very refreshed. Very fortunate to have good friends in good health. After so much negativity and worry about variants etc. it was lovely to be able to go away for three whole days and NOT THINK ABOUT COVID. Some day it won't be on our minds.
December 21, 2021