Thanksgiving, Turkey and what's in the water?

As many of you know, I was "home alone" for Thanksgiving day. I wasn't feeling well and the rest of family was out of town - some as far as Florida and some in South Carolina. Unperturbed, as the date of the holiday is far less important to me than the actual celebrating it - I waited til they came home and suggested we go down the shore like we usually do, the weekend following Thanksgiving.

Well, that weekend didn't work out but I did see my younger brother play one of his annual "Old People's Home" gigs with the three guys he plays guitar with... and I saw my niece play some hoity toity tunes with her High School orchestra chamber music set - Haydn and Bach (ugh!) but they woke up the crowd with some Leroy Anderson tunes like Sleigh Bells and Syncopated Clock.

So it came to pass, that this weekend was "Thanksgiving Day" down the New Jersey shore with my folks. The weekend adventure actually started last Tuesday, when my mom called and said, "Can you buy a 15 pound turkey right after work today and start thawing it? My grocery store is all out of them!" Always willing to oblige, and knowing my folks live about 20 miles from the nearest other grocery store, I acquired a 17 pound "bird" and put in my refrigerator so it would be thawed by the weekend.

Wednesday I gave the bird a poke and it was still a solid chunk. Thursday morning it was slightly more yielding, and by Friday morning it was "well on its way to thawsville".

I have been very behind in my blog reading, and had only recently read Matty Thoughts where he tells us of his recent memory problems. He's a good sport and is able to poke fun at his own follies.

Matty's entry reminded me of my own father, who has on more than one occasion when leaving the houseboat to head for home, has forgotten his car keys, gone back down the dock and gotten them, forgotten his cellphone, gone back and got it, left the car keys on the counter on the boat when he picked up his cell phone and had to go back and get them, forgotten his medicine and gone back and gotten the pill bottles - and on one occasion, making no less that 7 trips up and down the dock! I sat there in the car rolling my eyes while waiting for him to get his act together and slowly started to seethe.

And then I encountered my other neighbor Martha's blog entry (both Matty and Martha live nearby) where she writes her horror tale about remembering concert tickets (or rather, not remembering them!) over at The Daily Grind I was sitting smug and thinking to myself, "Sheesh, I would never do that!"

Last Friday was one where the minutes felt like hours as I looked at the clock hundreds of times, eager to get home, packed, and on my way down to the seashore. It has been a long time since I've last been down there! Once home, I threw some clothes in a bag, grabbed my briefcase with a bunch of Christmas Cards I wanted to address, grabbed my camera, and checked my email when I found one from a dear friend asking me to keep a close family member in thoughts and prayer... and deep in thought, I got into the car and headed to the seashore - in the dark.

About 85 miles down the road and within 20 minutes of getting to the beach, I suddenly realized I had left the turkey in the refrigerator...



Martha, Matty, Dad... I hope you will forgive me for silently snickering at your memory woes. Maybe it's something in the local water?

P.s., I'm going to meet my mom tomorrow to give her the turkey - she plans to cook it and give my grandfather some when she and my dad meet him for lunch sometime this upcoming week.

P.s.s., My mom got an oven-stuffer chicken when I called her to tell her I screwed up and forgot the turkey. We all had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.