Skip to main content

Thanksgiving Week

I realize Thanksgiving is actually just one special day and not an entire week, but this year it feels extended. We'll be leaving Tuesday afternoon by car, picking up Eustacia along the way, and driving to Chicago. We'll get there in time to meet No. 1 at O'Hare on Wednesday, and then we'll join the rest of the in-laws and out-laws for two full days of thankfulness and food.

Most of the gang will be there, although I just learned two of the large bunch will be in Brazil instead. There will be four generations total—some vegetarians and some omnivores—eating all the traditional stuff, plus a pack of dogs afoot waiting for crumbs to hit the floor. But what I'm really looking forward to is having both of my daughters within reach.

I am thankful for many things, but in the interest of being concise, here is today's newspaper column about just a few. There are only two comments at time of posting, and they are personal and nonpolitical, sort of. Let's hope it doesn't turn ugly, and by that, I mean let's hope no one starts hating the democrats or the republicans or all the usual suspects from either side.

Comments

kyle@sift said…
Have a great trip. Enjoy your girls!

I am thankful to know you, Robyn.

k-
9:12 AM
dive said…
Sounds like you're all in for a great fun time, Robyn.
Have a safe journey and a wonderful Thanksgiving.
2:42 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No More Mr. Nice Guy

It's good to be a nice person--to say nice things, to do nice things, to write nice things--but I declare an end to the use of the word nice. Nice is what you say when you can't think of any other adjective. Someone shows you a picture of their back yard--that's nice. Someone tells you about their afternoon adventure--that's nice. Or someone describes their childhood in great detail and sometimes with painstaking effort--that's nice. It's a lazy word, and it's non-descriptive. Nice is like mashed potatoes with noodles and chicken gravy all in a big pile on one plate with some canned corn for garnish. Everything is the same color and texture and base substance--starch (this is a favorite Amish dish). Nice is like a partly cloudy day in April when outside feels like inside, and you can't tell a difference between the lighting and the temperature of your living room and the lighting and temperature of your front yard. Nice is a glass of lukewarm water. ...
20 comments
Read more

Long Live Anita Bowser

You know I occasionally check my hometown newspaper's website to scan the obituaries (morbid, I know, but I'm at that age). Over this past weekend, I read the obituary of Indiana State Senator Anita Bowser . She was a noted Democrat who championed causes protecting the neediest in the state's population. She was respected on both sides of the aisle for her intelligence and plain and outspoken approach to law making. The picture on her senate page is lovely. I remember none of those things about Anita Bowser . My first year or so in college was spent at a branch of Purdue University, and in the early 80s, Anita was a political science professor. She taught my American Government class my freshman year, and she was a mess. Somewhere in my old text book, I have a sketch of her drawn on a particularly dull day in class--her hose sagged at her ankles, her slip showed at least half an inch all the way around, her hair had been slept on but not brushed, and her bright red lip stic...
18 comments
Read more

Ish People

Tell an Ish person to show up around 9 a.m., and you'll see them somewhere around 9 a.m. Tell them to show up at 9ish, and you'll see them anywhere from 9:05 to 9:20. You have given them license to dilly dally, and who wouldn't take advantage of that? The other night at the big shindig dinner party, one of the drummers said the rehearsal the next morning would begin at 9ish. "I am an ish person," he says. Immediately the clanker goes off in my head--oh, good, I thought. I can deliver my daughter a little late. No Ish person is early, so if you say 9ish, that does not mean give or take 5, 10, 15 minutes. It's exclusively a taking phrase. Take an extra 10 minutes to drink your cup of coffee. We won't mind. We're Ish people. Sunday's rehearsal started at 2:00. Because it was conducted by the same people who conducted the Saturday rehearsal, my understanding was 2-ISH. My daughter is worse than I am about taking liberties with Ish time frames, so she d...
14 comments
Read more