Thanksgiving

This is one of those years in which we have no Thanksgiving plans. We expect to take a holiday drive and end up in a restaurant in a small town somewhere.

Thanksgiving once was my favorite holiday. From the late 60s to late 70s, a core of about half-a-dozen couples, most in LA, gathered for a three-day feast and music-playing party over the holiday. Man, those were fun times! A different couple would host each year, so sometimes we'd be in LA, sometimes in San Francisco, sometimes in San Jose. Hard times to duplicate.

Actually, some of the LA crowd are still doing this, and now and again I stop by, but I've been out of the loop for a long time, beginning when I moved east after grad school. But Thanksgiving after those energetic and youthful gatherings of friends didn't rise to the standard.

The only memorable Thanksgiving in the past 15 years or so was one when we went for a hike on the coast with a couple friend and ended up caught in a rainstorm. Soaked, we ended up eating in a highway restaurant with a fireplace, our outer gear drying by the fire, the last customers of the evening. Actually this was a lot of fun. (The couple who shared this is divorced now. It's a very, very rare couple I know that hasn't been divorced.)

Thanksgiving has never been a family affair since I left home and joined the Army. Last night we watched Home for the Holidays but this kind of holiday family gathering is not in my experience. It was always a gathering of close friends -- or when the holiday "worked," it was. Now it is quieter, more reflective, more solitary. I do give thanks since I've a lot to be thankful for.