On To December
Well I made it through November.
The turkeys have been served and completely eaten, and the 50,000 words have been written.
All it took was organization, relentlessness, and tenacity.
And a little snapping at David when he asked why I wasn’t making peas. Or more mashed potatoes. Or commented, for the millionth time, “We should open up a bed and breakfast.”
Tuesday night, I was at dinner with the girls after having picked Meagan up at the airport. We kept getting texts from him. He was at the grocery store. I didn’t understand why he was at the grocery store. I had already been to the grocery store several times.
He was picking up peas. He also wanted to pick up a brine mix to brine the turkeys. Does anyone out there have pots big enough to submerge two 20 pound turkeys? We certainly don’t.
My uncle’s spicy nuts and my great-grandmother’s fudge are all gone, and after last night’s dinner, the only leftovers that remain are the peas.
A couple of my youngest cousins joined us for Thanksgiving with their kids. They complained about lengthy drives to soccer games, disrupted nap schedules, and sleeping habits. I just smiled. The two youngest children were on the shy side, but I did see a few smiles and heard a “thank you” as well as a clearly enunciated “goldfish”. The oldest was not shy. He helped in the kitchen and asked for a piece of all three pies. He also asked me what kind of ice cream I had in the freezer. I was glad that the swing set and the playroom got some use while they were there.
After dinner, we talked about how my grandparents might be the longest married living couple in Massachusetts. Dave suggested we have a news station interview them. After getting my grandfather started, we quickly realized an interview might not be such a good idea.
I also managed to collect a few more memories about my great-grandmother. I started asking family members for their memories of her earlier in November. I think I irritated some of them with my request – just as I irritated them when I asked them to get outside for that photo. (Nicole thought I was a little mean in the way I “asked”.)
For my NaNoWriMo novel, I weaved those memories into a story based on her life.
If you have thirteen minutes or so, here it is. I learned a lot in writing it.
