211124 Sentinel, Enjoying the Day

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Life can be good, even after grief.

This old mug is still hanging on.

Thanksgiving tomorrow will not be the same without getting up in the early hours of the morning with Joyce to go through getting the turkey ready for the oven and making final preparations for guests. That will be the first time in 40 years. Thinking about this reminds me of Thanksgiving 1979. We were living in an apartment in Penasquitos, Calfornia. My parents lived in an apartment several doors down. We were headed there for breakfast and had already put the turkey in the oven for later in the day. We left our apartment and locked the door as we left. After breakfast with mom and dad we walked back to our apartment when Joyce asked me to open the door. I did not have the key and assumed she had it with her but she didn't have it either. The turkey was cooking enough we could smell it outside. So what to do at that point? I had purchased some friction locks for the sliding windows in our apartment and thought they were good. It turned out that with a screwdriver I could easily pry open the kitchen window. Of course the window fully open would not allow me or Joyce to crawl in there, but lucky for us, our daughter Annie was a skinny little girl then. I slid her through the window and she then opened the door for us.

I was running low on essential (in my opinion) supplies late yesterday and I knew that stores were not going to be open on Thanksgiving, so this morning was my only chance to get what I needed. I saw Walmart opened this morning at 6:00 AM, so I hopped into my red chariot and headed over there. Shelf stockers were as busy as ever and customers were few at that hour.

It is now 11:00 and I'l bet that store is jammed with people. I picked out the necessities and before I left, found the fixings for one of my favorite meals for tomorrow on Thanksgiving and it's not turkey. I've never liked turkey and when I told Joyce that back in early September or late August, she was shocked. I never said anything before because I knew everyone else enjoyed a Turkey for Thanksgiving. I relished all of the side dishes Joyce made, especially the dressing and the mashed potatoes.

I know it is early for most drinkers, but because I was up at 3:00 this morning, I've had my beer and I am quite content for the moment.