A Thanksgiving to Remember

This school year has been unusual for a number of reasons. Both kids were away at school for the first time. I started out the year working from home. Then in October, I was working in person in the mornings some days, but at home in the afternoons. Then things changed again when during the second week of November, one of my own was sent home, as the campus was closing early for Thanksgiving due to a COVID outbreak in the state. 

An hour into the car ride home she received a phone call that she'd tested positive. That phone call sparked an array of others to employers, spouses, siblings, children, roommates, doctors, and health departments. We, my mom, daughter, and I, had four more hours in the car to figure out what essential items were needed, and where they needed to be moved, for the 14-day quarantine rodeo. 

When we got my girl settled in her new isolation room, and my mom and I settled into our new digs, I turned to my mom and said, "The next two weeks are going to determine when I put you in a home." I have to admit, she was very well behaved. 

While I Zoomed, mom wrote her Christmas cards, watched The Great British Baking Show, The Crown, and Schitt$ Creek. My girl slept, did some school work, and slept some more. Neighbors dropped off groceries, fuzzy socks, Tanqueray, and bourbon. By the time Thanksgiving rolled around, my girl was "sprung" from her life of isolation, and could help us prepare a feast for three, that would have fed nearly eight times as many, and we had just a couple more days of lockdown. 

Ultimately, it was just what my soul needed. I will probably never again have two weeks of uninterrupted time with my mom, while our faculties are still mostly functioning. It gave my mom a break from my dad, who has been in pain and crabby and not sleeping, thus, tired and short-tempered towards whoever is around him, since late summer. And, my dad a break from my mom who has been trying to balance being helpful and giving him space in their tiny "starter" home they bought in 1970.  

It also provided my daughter the opportunity, at least the last few days, to be around her favorite person ever, Grandma Judy. She said to me once recently, "I know someday that you and dad and Gagi and everyone is going to die, but Judy is never going to die. She is going to live forever." Although unlikely, I hope so too.