thank-full

A good Thanksgiving.

Family, food, friends.  What could be better?

The night before last I went to my girlfriend D's place for our 3rd Annual pre-Thanksgiving hang-time.  She does some prep for her family dinner, but mostly we listen to good music, have some wine, and yack.  There are usually a few of us there, but this year it turned out to be the two of us; good fun hanging out with my girlfriend.

Yesterday: Turkey Day at mi padre's place...entering the house, you pretty much give yourself over to the kids - I don't think I said more than 10 words to my brother and sister-in-law ("hello" and "bye" included).  Jesser was not feeling well, so she stayed close to her mom and dad most of the day, but the other kids took up the slack just fine.  Sammer grabbed my hand at one point saying "Me hide Uncle Debbie, you come too..."  We stayed in Dad's big closet "hidden" for over a half hour - opening and closing the door, saying "buh bye" in as many silly voices as we could and laughing until my stomach hurt.  I should hide in closets with Sammer more often.

Em discovered the old remote control fart machine.  (mom would've loved that - she got such a great, warped kick out of that damn toy...)  At 16 Case is now taller than I am...how is that possible?  Wasn't she just a little squirt yesterday?...or the day before yesterday? 

When all anyone of us needed was more dessert, my sis produced a lovely birthday cake for the Beaners & my schweetie (born on the same day, 47 years apart...), as well as Timbo (since we weren't all together to celebrate his day in late october). 

Leaving Dad at the end of the day is always rough; it rips my guts out a little - even though he always says: "This is how it is now..."

Mom's absence always hangs over our family get-togethers, because how can we all be together when one is missing?  But this is how it is now.

Afterwards the Schweetie and I joined Wend-a-leh and her family (along with other good friends t & h and their brood - and another friend of wend-a-leh and her husband's) at their home - just in time for more dessert.  So easy and relaxed.  Nothing like an evening with good friends; one of my favorite things ever. 

The kids were into a silly card game, and they eventually roped most of the adults in too (are we the adults?  ohmygod, how did that happen?), and then kept the playful mood going with a goofy charade-like game.  I'm not usually a big fan of games, but even I got into it (all played 'cept the schweetie - he participated solely as a very amused audience member).  Wend-a-leh, T and I know each other from our lives in the theater, (and wend-a-leh's husband and their other friend are actors), so with that common theme in the room, the game was (not surprisingly) delightfully theatrical - even when no one was "on stage."  Twas challenging not to use NC-17 clues (cause [disclosure: if you're offended by nc-17 related comments, skip down to the next paragraph now...] the game was getting very competitive and i know we over 40s had a better clue than wend-a-leh's gnashing at the furniture to act out what "beaver" was...).  But refrain we did - there were kids present.  ;)  (i imagine things would have gone into the gutter quickly had they not been.  still, my inner teenaged boy got some great laughs just the same.) 

Talked to Sherm on the drive home - sent my love to that branch of the family in St. Louis.  Miss them.  Reminisced about shared Thanksgivings in Berkeley at their house when we both lived there.  We were lucky to have those few years when we lived just 10 minutes from each other. 

The schweetie crashed as soon as we got home; I stayed up late enjoying the quiet house while I started packing for our holiday week ahead.

Yep, we're heading out of town tomorrow.  Going away for a week to the Outer Banks - the schweetie's favorite vacation spot.  We've gone for a week in May each of the two years that we've been together, but this trip is a "Yahoo-the-schweetie-doesn't-have-cancer" trip. 

A few weeks ago he had a bit of a scare (i didn't blog about it - not everything is blog-able when it's happening...) - his PSA levels spiked (often an indicator of prostate cancer) and we had a week waiting to have the biopsy, and then another week waiting for the results of the biopsy.  During that time, we both were doing a lot of taking stock, and conversations were in overdrive.  At one point the schweetie declared that he put off fun too much - worked too hard, stressed out too much, and stayed close to home due to his business (which is pretty hands on, but could survive with a lighter touch...).  He said that no matter how this thing turned out, he was going to make some changes in the way he was operating.  The schweetie is really a man of his word, and when the news came down that all the biopsy samples were clean, we breathed many sighs of relief, and started planning this trip. 

I don't think I've ever done a full-on vacation with a two and a half week turn around, but off we go.  Our rented house is right on the beach (the description says it's 25 feet away - that's a photo of the place taken from the realtor's website - delicious!).  The schweetie has booked a few half-day fishing trips and the weather looks like it might be good enough that I'll go out one day.  I don't fish, but if the weather's nice, I'm happy to be on the boat just enjoying the day and seeing him having such a great time.  But the other time(s) I think I'll let him go solo with the guide while I do my thing at the house.  I'm looking forward to some serious down-time ... simmering with my post-retreat stuff, writing, reading, sitting in the hot-tub (yum), sleeping late, cooking and doing a little of that NC-17 sort of gesturing whenever possible (double yum).   

With all the twists and turns, loved ones gone, and challenges a plenty, life is good.

Thank-full indeed.

Comments

[maria]

I hope you two are having a wonderful and relaxing time. You both deserve a break ... he after his cancer scare and a birthday ... and you after your big event and retreat. I bet it's very peaceful down there this time of year, and being right on the beach must be just awesome. Enjoy!

[kat]

so glad to hear your schweetie is ok (have you ever seen that snl skit with the schwetie weeners? i keep thinking of that when i read schweetie. lol!) and i think it's fantastic that you are doing a little celebrating!!

[Marilyn]

Hope you have a great trip. Glad to hear it was only a cancer...scare.