thanksgiving memories
24 Nov 2008 11:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cimoreneIf I were in America, I'd be getting ready for Thanksgiving now - or actually we'd possibly have already left, in my childhood, for Washington, DC, where we spent most Thanksgivings with my dad's family. His uncle practiced law in DC throughout my childhood, and his aunt worked for the council of governors, and I looked forward anxiously to the memorials, the National Zoo, and the museums all year long, plus the stuffed-to-bursting dining room with family, friends, and Somalian refugees (my great-aunt and uncle were in Somalia before the last regime change when they were in the peace corps). A couple of days a year would be spent playing board games with family, and a couple at the Mall.
Wandering in the sculpture garden eating street vendor pretzels; lagging behind with my mom in the art museum while everyone else rushed through; visiting all my old friends in the Natural History Museum, especially the spiral staircase with the huge hanging tribal art in the middle, and looking for new exhibits I didn't remember; running in the rain through the Korean War Memorial, side-by-side with life-size bronze soldiers creeping through the undergrowth; the huge animated clock at the National Zoo, where the tiny parade of animals troops around the edges when it chimes the hour; seeing snow, which used to be most likely to happen in DC even though we spent about half our Christmases in Kansas City; getting in line behind the sculptural citizens in line for foodstamps in the FDR Memorial (though not until I was in high school: that one's newer).
In later years, DC became harder to manage and the dad's-family-reunions stayed at Thanksgiving but moved to my parents' house in Alabama, which meant my grandfather, estranged from his former brother-in-law some twenty years, was able to attend (they've since reconciled however), and it wasn't so far to travel for most everybody.
Now that my dad is in a wheelchair, travel is difficult enough even were the price of gas on that 15-hour drive to DC not an issue, and they're the default hosts for Thanksgiving. I haven't seen any extended family except my grandfather since 2004. I'd give a lot to attend a family reunion, for either side. I've been holding Channukah yearly since I moved here, trying to comfort myself, I suppose, with childhood rituals and warm memories. I'm lucky that my friends have an interest in participating in my cultural traditions, and I tried Passover last year too. This Thursday will be my first Thanksgiving, though. There's a lack of pumpkins for pumpkin bread, but at least I'll be happy to get rid of the turkey.
Wandering in the sculpture garden eating street vendor pretzels; lagging behind with my mom in the art museum while everyone else rushed through; visiting all my old friends in the Natural History Museum, especially the spiral staircase with the huge hanging tribal art in the middle, and looking for new exhibits I didn't remember; running in the rain through the Korean War Memorial, side-by-side with life-size bronze soldiers creeping through the undergrowth; the huge animated clock at the National Zoo, where the tiny parade of animals troops around the edges when it chimes the hour; seeing snow, which used to be most likely to happen in DC even though we spent about half our Christmases in Kansas City; getting in line behind the sculptural citizens in line for foodstamps in the FDR Memorial (though not until I was in high school: that one's newer).
In later years, DC became harder to manage and the dad's-family-reunions stayed at Thanksgiving but moved to my parents' house in Alabama, which meant my grandfather, estranged from his former brother-in-law some twenty years, was able to attend (they've since reconciled however), and it wasn't so far to travel for most everybody.
Now that my dad is in a wheelchair, travel is difficult enough even were the price of gas on that 15-hour drive to DC not an issue, and they're the default hosts for Thanksgiving. I haven't seen any extended family except my grandfather since 2004. I'd give a lot to attend a family reunion, for either side. I've been holding Channukah yearly since I moved here, trying to comfort myself, I suppose, with childhood rituals and warm memories. I'm lucky that my friends have an interest in participating in my cultural traditions, and I tried Passover last year too. This Thursday will be my first Thanksgiving, though. There's a lack of pumpkins for pumpkin bread, but at least I'll be happy to get rid of the turkey.
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