This is the day before Thanksgiving and I have made two Pumpkin pies and a Red Velvet cake. Linda also wanted me to help her get the nuts out of the Pistachio shells. What a pain that is. I pulled my thumb nail loose from the quick on my left hand. Painful at least! Tomorrow we are expecting Peyton and Kim to come out for an late afternoon dinner. We have a Honey Baked Ham and will cook the Turkey in the morning. We also have dressing and also Broccoli that I grew down in the garden and Corn from brother Jean and Ellen's garden. We will, I am sure have way too much, as usual. On Friday we are expecting Bric, Janette, Brayden and Bricen for dinner and the birthday party that we are having for Emma on Friday. Emma and Karina should be in late Thursday afternoon and come out for the party on Friday. Karina's boy friend Sergio is coming as well. They are driving over from Arkansas. It should be interesting, at least.
This afternoon I went over to the mailbox to see if the mail had come and ran into Dave on his way home from the mailbox. What an exciting life we all live here at Big Creek. I stopped to talk to him for a few minutes and the FedX man came driving across the bridge. He was delivering Emma's wooden cooking set that Linda ordered a couple of weeks ago and that we have been worried that it might not get here in time for her birthday. Thank goodness it came. Linda put it together with minimum help from me and I was thankful for that. See, I do have some thing to be thankful about for Thanksgiving. That and the large bottle of Tanqueray Gin that Van and Diane gave me for my birthday last weekend.
The maudlin part.
Which makes me think.......what do I have to be thankful about? There are a lot of things, I guess the number one thing is, of course is my two wonderful sons. They have made my life complete in so many ways. They call every day, they give me something to thing about all the time and although it is impossible if I could, I would see them both every single day, they are so important to my well being and peace of mind. From the day they were born I have been so preoccupied with them, healthy or not that is the way it is.
And then there are the grand children. Wow! Who knew they would be so special. They occupy my thoughts in so many ways the worry, the absolute joy of knowing that they are somewhere in this world and the thrill when I hear Brayden's voice over the phone saying, "Happy Birthday Papa" when I least expect it. Bricen's facial expressions that say volumes with just one glance. He has a very old soul, for sure. Not to mention Emma's eyes, Wow! They are all like rainbows in my head. I might not be with them as often as I would like and do not get to see them except occasionally, they still hold my thoughts hostage. Looking at those two little boys and that beautiful little girl make me feel just like the first time I saw the Sistine Chapel or the Eiffel tower, But even more! What can I say!
Oh, by the way, without doubt the one thing that I have not mentioned and with out which none, but none of these other things would have been possible would be Linda. We fight, argue, disagree on just about everything and yet I can't imagine life without her. She has been with me at every point when something significant happened. Good and bad, happy and sad, it is Linda who has been with me for so long that I cannot think how my life would have turned out had I not had that design class so many years ago at the University of Alabama and met that girl with the strange hair do, the navy blue raincoat, the jeans and the cordovan penny loafers. It is hard for me to say things like this but things need to be said and said often because one never knows when the time to profess love for another person has passed and is no longer even possible. Even now the occasions are rare and shouldn't be. Thank you Linda.
If you tell anybody that I wrote this I will say you are lying.
Tommy
