Week 67 - Thanksgiving

Second period of our CO35 wrapped up the beginning of this week, and the main grad student decided he wanted to wait to continue until I was back, because I informed him I would not be working over Thanksgiving weekend. But we are halfway, without any losses!

Thanksgiving is a nice time to spend with family, and over the years has been one holiday that has never changed in value for me. Yet, too often I let the day pass by because I say that every day should be a day of thankfulness. In reality, it is not about being thankful on a specific day; Thanksgiving is about telling other people that you are thankful for them as blessings in your life. And it is the one day of the year where you know that those people you are grateful for are also going to take the time to relax and enjoy a day with you. Of course, the holiday gets all this flak about being a rush of shopping and dinner preparation, clouded by family disagreement and obnoxiously undisciplined children. We have to just draw the line, not get caught up in all of this and instead focus on the peace and laughter that comes from memories and time well-spent together. In the end, nobody cares if the damn turkey catches on fire - just don't steal my beer.

Well, this is the first Thanksgiving that I have not seen my family, and also the first Thanksgiving since my grandfather passed away. I think being at home would have been difficult and so that is why it was so easy for me to just up and leave to North Carolina for my wife's family get-together at a rented lakehouse. The weather not being perfect for lakehousing, we were looking at a lot of time indoors together, but I viewed it as a chance to let her family get to know Hannah better and to relax, drink beer and watch it all go by. My parents weren't thrilled that I was gone, but in the end I think they will understand. My older brother was fine with it; he was looking forward to interception-free catches as the sole big guy in a friendly football match.

It was a beautiful drive down, through some historic country. West Virginia and the Appalachians are still resistant to the urbanization of America. Here, you can drive the trails taken by Braddock during his invasion of the Ohio River Valley in the 1700s, and you can breathe in the same mountain air that Federal scouts breathed as they watched Jackson march his troops behind the mountainous cover in defense of Virginia in 1862. We drove by a shot tower, one of the only remaining, where molten lead was dropped hundreds of feet into the ground, to be recovered by an access point near the river level - the lead shaped into round shot by the resistance and gravity. History was all around us, and I could feel it. No week that starts with that kind of feeling can end poorly... it might have helped that this was the first time away from work (aside from the hospital for Hannah) that I had taken. Ever.

The shot tower in northern Virginia from the highway.

There was one slight hitch, and that happened in the mountains near the North Carolina border. Stop and go traffic, "more stop than go", I would later tell the patrol officer, and the guy behind me suddenly slams into my tail in the in-laws' new Toyota. I don't get into accidents with other vehicles (2 trees, 1 rock, 2 parked cars in driveways, sundry roadkill - but not vehicles on the road) and I was pretty mad, more frustrated by the fact that this was a new car, and it wasn't mine. Well, I turn on hazards and go to pull off to the right side of the road, but the SUV just keeps going down the road like nothing happened!!!  I was furious, and if he hadn't come across the road after I started gesturing and flashing my headlights/brights, there's no telling what I would've done. My bet is on running up and ripping him out of his driver's seat.

Anyhow, so we pull over, and come to show up is a 3rd guy. Turns out he was the instigator of the accident in the back and can't figure out how he didn't think to stop. Brake lights weren't a clue in for ya? Or maybe the traffic that wasn't moving? Well, the guy in the middle was from Michigan, and I'm betting he had insurance or accident reasons for wanting to leave. He didn't seem too comfortable, and the guy behind told him to just go since he was taking fault for the accident. And he gone. Then there was two of us. When the officer finally arrives (after we've changed a dirty diaper from Hannah - perfect timing), he proceeds to cite the guy behind me and then give us both a lecture about "keeping our eyes on the road". It's not nearly as funny without all the hand gestures and condescension that came with it, classic, and evidently stemming from his frustration with holiday traffic drivers. I don't blame him, but I do feel like he thought it was my fault for being in the way, when I obviously had enough distance between me and the guy in front of me since I didn't hit anyone. Phhhh...

Our time down there in North Carolina was great. I missed my family, and missed our traditions, but it was good to do something fresh, and to just relax.  The sun was shining, and the breeze not too brisk. Beer always helps, and when in doubt add a couple touches of coffee and Bailey's, and a glass of wine. I demonstrated my complete lack of prowess on the pool table, scratching the 8-ball for a record 5 losses in 2 sittings. We tossed the football around, I got to school people with some good hands plays, and we ate a lot. Even Hannah was eating, demonstrating a new love for mashed potatoes, her first non-baby food. She topped that off with a taste of my cherry wheat made last summer to celebrate her birth, and she was pretty happy. I think she really enjoyed chewing on the bottle more than anything, because her teeth have been coming in and she likes the hard surface.

Family gatherings always bring out the good or the bad in family, and with a new baby in the mix it was pretty much just the good. Hannah was the center of attention, especially for people who had yet to meet her or wanted to demonstrate that they still had the magic touch. I barely got to hold my own child, but I got to just watch her be passed around and see her smiling. That's enough for me.

Eating some of those great potatoes on Thanksgiving day!

See the sneakiness on her face as she tries for the beer?

Hannah really brought out the best in some of her younger second-cousins.