Thanksgiving report
Lefty November 28th, 2006
On Thanksgiving I went out to Fire Island and had dinner at my mother’s house. Since late November is way past the high-season out there, the ferries from Bay Shore only run about once a day. So I decided it would be a good idea to drive to the end of the highway at Robert Moses State Park and just walk to my mom’s place in Dunewood, which is a distance of roughly 2.5 miles. Normally this wouldn’t be so bad, but Thanksgiving day it happened to be pouring out. Champ and I trudged through the cold and rain, which was pretty miserable for the first half mile or so, before it started to taper off significantly.
Once we got to the house things took a real turn for the better. None of the other potential guests showed up because of the rain, so it was just me, Mom, and John (my mom’s second ex-husband). And since I like small, intimate groups, I was very pleased by this development. John’s a serious cook, and he had made a whole slew of dishes for the event: some crazy zucchini and mozzarella casserole, glazed carrots, stuffing, fresh bread, broccoli rabe, cranberry sauce, beets, brussell sprouts, and a huge apple pie for dessert. The only thing they didn’t have was turkey: since the other guests no-showed and I haven’t eaten a piece of meat in sixteen years, I guess they figured it wasn’t worth the effort.
I took Champ for a walk that night, and it was eerie as could be after dark. There wasn’t a single other occupied house in the whole town, and not a single light on. Just complete quiet.
The next morning I helped John put together a table he and my Mom had ordered and then Champ and I walked back to Robert Moses for the drive home. Champ and I listened to the whole Roger Miller box set on the trip, which I thoroughly enjoyed. All-in-all, it was an entirely pleasant Thanksgiving, with the only negative being that Emily was with her family in Ohio and I was deprived of her company. I did wake up nice and early on Sunday morning to pick her up at LaGuardia, and we spent the rest of the day together catching up on the holiday.
Here’s my requisite list of things to be thankful for: Emily, Champ, my family and friends, my health, the Windsor Terrace apartment, the opportunity to study and learn at Stern, a shiny new job, and lots of interesting potential opportunities in the coming year.
