Thankgiving Musings

I had plans to post sooner, but the plague stole all my energy and prevented me from sharing my Thanksgiving weekend adventures. I love Thanksgiving! It is representative of the fall season, includes a large family meal featuring all my favorites, kicks-off the holiday season which requires decorating the house while reminiscing over the various ornaments and trinkets, and the weekend is dominated by state rivalries in college football.

Dad, Mom, Mel & James

My mom is the youngest of eight kids, meaning we have a large family who are scattered across the US so it is rare for us to get together. Though our last family reunion was almost twenty years ago, I remain close with some of our relations while there are others who I haven't seen in what feels like forever.

My Aunt Kay does not realize that I have been aware of her struggles and they have greatly influenced my life. I admire her strength and perseverance, her friendship with her ex and daughter, and her love of my mom. Kay survived breast cancer at a young age but required a full mastectomy. She was one of the women whose silicone implants leaked, poisoning her body and destroying one of her lungs. Kay's remaining lung is failing and she was denied a transplant hence a decision was made to have a reunion, in order to have these final memories with her.

James and I drove to a little town outside of Pittsburgh to spend Thanksgiving with almost fifty other people, most of whom hubby had never met. In order to prepare James for the mayhem of a loud family reunion, we began our road trip with lots of loud singing, i.e. my singing. REM was the band of choice for this trip but Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, and Linkin' Park had quite a bit of airtime.

Dale sharing his genealogy research

I spent the majority of the trip discussing family history with my Uncle Dale, who has researched with me in Salt Lake and more recently reviewed my brick wall. Dale brought more than a hundred pages of research with him from Denver because he wanted my opinion on his recent discovery. Following the trail I had given him in October, he had finally uncovered the missing link that had hindered my research for more than a decade and had progressed back two generations. One of my proudest moments at the reunion was listening to him share his findings with his siblings. He was really enthused and a quick study. As he was showing off one document, he pointed out some random numbers and remarked, Melissa says this indicates his property. He went on and on and on, detailing my explanation of what it signified and how he should approach the next steps of his research as well as my remarks on military research. I appreciated hearing him tell the family that I really knew my stuff, especially since my family doesn't understand my work.

Rose, Kay, Mom, Dale, Ken & Arthur

Though I spent time with my parents on Wednesday night, Mom was busy with her siblings, leaving James and I to entertain dad on Thanksgiving. It was worth the drive, in order to be with my parents for the holiday. Unfortunately, Kay's health had taken a downturn and she could not travel to Pittsburgh, so my uncle rented a van and the siblings drove to Baltimore to spend the day with her.

James and I returned back home with weekend plans, but the plague set-in delaying our decorating and preventing me from watching football. Through the power of drugs, I managed to see Catching Fire with Becky and Erin as part of our semi-annual movie night though it's a bit of a blur, which means I now have an excuse to see it again. The plague took its toll on me, but I still had a nice holiday with my parents, had James setting up the Christmas tree and taking care of me.