This year I am Thankful for HOPE

For the second, consecutive Thanksgiving, the "button"  is eating a bologna sandwich bag lunch from summer camp.  To a man, Thanksgiving is about the food and the feast.  This was obviously the men's idea up there at Plymouth Rock.  The women would have looked at one another and said "too much work". 

I have a whole new take on Thanksgiving.  I have always DREADED Thanksgiving.  It is a childhood thing.  It was the only holiday that we had to spend with my dad's parents.  And, to add insult to injury, my cousins were at my Mamaw's house.  Oh, it was horrible.  Here is how the day ALWAYS went down.  My dad would leave about 5am in pursuit of the "big buck" on the hill.  My mom would say, "be home by noon."  Noon always came and always went.  He never made it on time.   He would get home, stink like gamey wilderness and provoke my mom.She would have a meltdown because we were going to be late.  My mom "is never late."  We would drive to grandmother's house, not through the woods but on William Penn Highway.  He would be driving, not paying attention, looking in the fields for deer, spitting tobacco out the door.  By the moment we arrived, my mom was so pissed at my dad and he was smiling because he had provoked her so.

Always, the scene at the Bahneman house looked like meal time at an Assisted Living Home.  Everyone HAD to have a coaster, they had little bowls of Chinese nuts, walkers,canes and a beautifully decorated table (seriously, it looked like the cover of Southern Living) and they sat and played cards.  Not a whole lot of cooking going down.  I always retreated to the back bed room and would build a 2000 piece puzzle in one day. 

The dog, Taffy, shed little white hairs EVERYWHERE and still had her dried up breasts dangling from when she had puppies about 13 years prior.  The sight of that dog made my skin crawl.

OMG, it was horrible.  The worst part, yes, there is more,was the meal.  Betty would say we would eat at 4pm.  Most times that meant 8p.Which, 8pm always cut into the Disney Special on the Wonderful World of Disney.  The potatoes were instant and she always made this lime green jello salad with carrots on it with a lettuce leaf.  When people pulled their chairs out, it wiggled.  I was crammed in this chair against a hutch and my grandmother always gave me a hard time because I wouldn't eat gravy or much of anything.  Who would and could eat this food?  The whole time I was crammed in the chair, I would always be thinking of my Mamaw's house and how much fun that was over there.  There was Nana, the really old lady telling my brother and I if we didn't eat, or take smaller bites, we would not get dessert.   The food was typically sooooo bad that one year my dad wanted to stop at a restaurant on the way home.  How bad is that?  My mom finally got smart and made a turkey at the house so we had something when we got home.

The highlight of the day was an Islay's turkey Ice cream. Vanilla Ice cream with a Chocolate turkey in the center.  I wonder if they still make those?

Anyway, I have not been a Thanksgiving person because of Bert Drive, Monroveille, Pa.

This year, I am all about the bird. Maybe it is the turkey dishes I scored from TJ Max for six dollars but I think it was more about HOPE.

Those Pilgrims came over here to be free.  There were not an geography books or stories to learn from.   They were virgins to the New World and new nothing of the cold winters or Indians at Plymouth Rock.  Most of them died, but those who made it on the ship and then through the winter, made it.  They were frontiers.  They hoped they would make on the ship, they hoped they would make it through the winter and they hoped they would continue to thrive and prosper.  Seriously, hope is all they had.  Hope.

 I certainly wish that my son was sitting at my table today.  But he isn't and that is his doing.  And that is exactly what he said to  Franklin and I when he called.  And he said it best, it isn't about the food.  It is about learning and growing and walking forward.  It is about Hope.  We talked about the Josh Hamilton book and the parallels in the two men's lives and what the families went through.  WE talked about how much better we understand and he understands after reading this book.

I am always a "big holiday" person and the "button" realized that he hadn't been home for a holiday since Mother's day, 2011.  He said, "I just hope I am home for Walker or Addie's birthday".  HOPE.

That is what this holiday is all about.  They planted seeds in the HOPE that they would sprout and grow.  They Hoped they would make it across the seas.  Those Pilgrims hoped they would prosper.  They longed for a different life and had Hope that they could find it.

I am at peace that he is eating bologna. I am happy about the communication that the "button" continues to have with his siblings, as crazy as the pictures and letters might be.  I am encouraged that he finally owns his addiction.  I am thankful that Josh Hamilton had the strength to share his story so we can Hope. 

And later today, when we pass the six dollar Turkey plates, I will be thankful for Thanksgivings past and Hopeful that next year's Thanksgiving will force me to set one more six dollar turkey plate at the table.