Thanksgiving 2011...
11/25/2011
I should not have done it. I should have learned the futility of it years ago. I should have known there just isn’t anything to gain in the attempt, but then I have always been a little slow.
The Nancy and I arrived at her parents’ home about 11:30 yesterday morning. Her mom and dad were there as was her brother Chuck and his wife Michelle. The feast preparation was well underway and very much under control with none of the usual panic that ensues on the typical Thanksgiving Day. Our portion of the meal was pretty much complete, needing only to be reheated. All was well.
Chuck was playing bartender making Bloody Marys for anyone wishing one. I am not a BM kind of a guy; something about red-colored drinks is totally unappealing to me. Instead I headed for the back porch and the well-stocked cooler I brought long for the ride. As I extracted one of the twelve Sierra Nevada Celebration Ales I brought for the weekend I knew I was about to do it again, my stupidity gene was now in control.
The Nancy’s brother has an insatiable beer appetite. I have no idea where he puts it, but I knew when he finished his Bloody Mary and visited the cooler to get me another Celebration, the cruise to Buzzville was ready to leave port. Chuck returned with three beers, one for me, two for him. He opened one and downed it as he opened one for me – it is his modus operandi. The game was afoot.
The big meal was served about 1:30. So for an hour or so my body was able to process alcohol with the assistance of mashed potatoes and dressing and lots of other goodies (mostly of the dessert category), but then came an aperitif in a liquid form – more beer, one for me, two for him. This scenario repeated itself numerous times throughout the afternoon, through a couple of football games and well into the evening. About the time I began to giggle I volunteered The Nancy as the designated driver, a duty which she rigorously accepted without hesitation. Thankfully and finally on this Thanksgiving evening the beer supply was exhausted as were those who consumed it. I was (my opinion and not that of those around me) “nearly” wasted but fully in control of my senses, even though I was having some difficulty formulating complete sentences and some words containing more than three syllables. It was time to go.
For some inexplicable reason as I write this little piece this morning, there seems to be some gaps in the time line yesterday. I do remember getting into the car, with The Nancy fully in command of the driving duties, and then suddenly it was 5:14am. Tempus fugit!
All and all, it was a stupendous Thanksgiving spent with people I love. If some of it is lost within my medulla oblongata, it’s okay. One day all will be remembered…and perhaps if I am truly fortunate it will not.
And that is all I have to say about that…