Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving is a time for families to gather and express gratitude for all the blessings in life.  Because my dad’s health has deteriorated, Lance and I drove 800+ miles to be with him during Thanksgiving.  My parents divorced when I was 14, but I continued to live with both parents until I was about 18 years old.  (That’s another story.)  When I was about 18,my dad relocated to El Paso, Texas.  Every year since then, we always spent Thanksgiving with him.  We would always make the drive to Texas every November, but as we (Yvette, Leroy, and I) began to have families of our own, my dad began making the trip to California for Thanksgiving.  It is our tradition.   When he would visit us for the holiday, it always meant a great deal to me because my mom would also be there to celebrate with us.  Yes, it was a blended family.  We all somehow got along, because we loved each other, which is such a BEAUTIFUL thing.

the family minus my brother's family.  He could not make it.
 

 When I was younger, I use to do the 800-mile trip overnight (12 hours straight), but this year, we stopped at a hotel half way en route.  We arrived at my dad’s early Thanksgiving afternoon.  My sister and her family were already there.  In previous years, my dad did all the cooking.  He is an AMAZING cook.  He also use to make seafood gumbo on the Friday following Thanksgiving. It was our tradition.  We also use to always celebrate Christmas with him on that Friday because we were never together during Christmas.  Because his health has weakened, Yvette and Mike did most of the cooking.  We had a Cajun-style Thanksgiving turkey.  My dad grew up in New Orleans so it is appropriate that we had a Turducken. Normally, we get one with seafood stuffing. Before we began devouring the feast, we said a prayer, and my dad could not finish it because he started to tear.  We spent most of the time just chatting with each other.  My dad has become so much more soft spoken, but every once in awhile his wacky humor would surface.  I overhead him ask his wife, Pilar, “When you going back to work so I can have some peace?”

I always have a difficult time saying bye to him, and each time I do, I fight the tears in my eyes.  I hugged him, and I said, “I love you very much and I’m very proud of you.  You are a really good man and dad.” 

And I am thankful for so many things, and this Thanksgiving, I want to say a prayer of gratitude to God for my dad's wife Pilar and my stepsister Mary.  They have been so good to my dad.  My worry is lessened because I know they are there for my dad.  I am so blessed to have them.  I can never express my appreciation enough.  I also want to thank God for giving me such an amazing Dad.  We are supposed to love our parents because they are our parents, and yes, I love my dad dearly, but you know what?  I like who is he and that is not always a given.  I am blessed to have him as a Dad.

 

Thank you God.  Thank you for giving me him as a Dad.

 

With 7 of the 10 grandchildren