Well thanksgiving or any holiday for that matter is not really anything special to me. Why would I say that? Well because I live alone and away from my family across the United States.
A short pause before I explain what happened on Thanksgiving Day. I was brought out here by an ex-husband years ago. Ohio was where he grew up. He and his family moved to California, which is where I met and married him. Then when his family decided to move back to Ohio he talked me into it. He didn’t want to be away from his family but he had no misgivings about me being away from mine. We made the move here and six months later we divorced. Now sixteen years later, I’m stuck here in freezing Ohio. (It’s a long story.)
I will do a posting of my time here another day. Today is about Thanksgiving.
What did I do on Thanksgiving? What can a person who lives alone with no family do? Normally nothing but stay home, maybe rent movies or go to a movie. Last year I found a restaurant not to far from me that gave free Thanksgiving dinners.
By the way Ohio has many programs to help the Homeless, one of which is churches across the area with free dinners. Before I go any further you should know that my car has a problem. (It’s fixed today but then it wasn’t)
That morning I slept in, read a little and called my family wishing them a Happy Thanksgiving and going on about how much I miss them. Around 1:00pm in the afternoon I got up, showered and was out of the house about 1:30pm. I drove up to the restaurant, while my car was barely able to make any kind of speed. (I have a bad muffler and the exhaust pipe needed to be replaced.) So here I am creeping along driving the best I can hoping against hope that I don’t break down. (I didn’t – knock on wood.). When I turned into the parking lot to the restaurant, it was closed and looked as if there hadn’t been a free dinner for anyone. I had already passed the times for any other free meal.
Most free meals were in the morning so the volunteers could be home with their own families.
So what could I do? I went to a 24 hours little restaurant across the street from where I work and had a breakfast, because they weren’t serving Turkey, then went home.
Talk about an exciting Thanksgiving, hah.
Still, back at the house, I have my four cats that sat and cuddled on the couch with me while I watched an old movie. I also wrote on my manuscript.
I called my family and my mother said they had a wonderful meal and a good time talking. “Did you tell everyone that I love them?” I asked.
“Of course, and they love you.” She reiterated.
So no fights among siblings, or harsh words against family members, or hard feeling against something that happened years ago, the day would have been better if I was there with them but we do and live as we can.
Thanksgiving is supposed to be about being thankful, even if we aren’t with our families during that time. Being thankful that you have someone to call, or connect with can bring happiness in some way. It sure beats being along in a big harsh world. Until next time.
P.S. I’m grateful for my life in many ways. Being alone in a big harsh world has taught me valuable lessons I wouldn’t have learned if I stayed close to my family.
(I will explain this statement in another post.) **Wink Wink **
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