A Thanksgiving To Remember (Writer's Workshop)

We had many wonderful Thanksgivings.  My mom always made a great meal and we helped.  I remember helping with the pumpkin pie one year but mostly my job was to do the instant mashed potatoes using Potato Buds and chop up the nuts for the Waldorf salad.  I also remember going to visit my grandmas and aunts growing up. 

When it got to be just me and my parents, we started going out to a restaurant for Thanksgiving.  My most memorable Thanksgiving though was the last one with both my mom and dad.  My mom was quite weak and had been in and out of the hospital but was doing better.  Following is an excerpt from "My Funny Dad, Harry" which is about our last Thanksgiving with mom.  God was so gracious to allow us to have this happy day with her just a week before she died of congestive heart failure.

    My mom had been quite ill that month.  She was in and out of the hospital but was having a good day.  We all knew it meant a lot to her to have a nice Thanksgiving so my dad, me and Gerard all decided to pitch in and make it a good day.  Mom had made Waldorf salad and the turkey roll was in the oven when Gerard and I arrived.  (I thought about bringing the camcorder, but didn’t because I knew mom wouldn’t want me to take her picture.  She was always camera shy, especially when she didn‘t think she looked good enough.  This was the last time Harry‘s oven was used--as an oven, that is.)  

    Mom supervised the dinner preparations from her favorite comfortable chair in the living room, telling dad and me what to do next.  (I am deficient in cooking unless it’s heating up frozen dinners.)  We were going to put the stuffing in the oven next to the turkey roll and the rolls on top, but dad had the cookie sheet with the turkey roll turned the wrong way so he had to spin it around.  Then the lid on the stuffing was too high, so dad had to make the rack lower.  Mom’s wondering what’s going on because I am laughing by now.  Instead of taking the turkey out, dad tried doing it leaving it in and just lifting the rack.  The turkey started sliding into the oven!  Gerard was back from CVS by then, so he was laughing too.  I caught it with the potholders in time before it fell into the oven.  Dinner was good.  

    Mom was feeling good and seemed back to normal like before she went to the hospital, recovering nicely.  She ate good too.  It was a nice Thanksgiving and, as it turned out, was a very good last memory of our time with mom.  I really wish I had brought my camcorder that day!

For more interesting posts or to choose a prompt and participate yourself, go to Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop.  This post prompt was "A Thanksgiving To Be Remembered."

My Other Writer's Workshop Posts this week:

Our Dog's Most Destructive Behavior

Did I Really Want To Change My Life Forever?