Thanksgiving

This year, Thanksgiving was on November 22nd. John and I went to our cousin's house in Greenwood. It was very nice and I will be forever grateful to my cousin, Theresa, and her family. I think they day would have been hard for me. This is the first Thanksgiving I've never been with Mom and Dad. Sounds hard to believe, but it is true.When I was in college and when I lived in Woodridge, IL, I came home every year for Thanksgiving. When I was a kid, Mom and Dad would fix the Thanksgiving meal for Granny (Mom's mother), Aunt Bea and Uncle Check, Aunt Opal and, of course Joe, Judy, John and myself. At one point, Uncle Check could not drive anymore, so they did not come up from Louisville. Later, Jeff and Jonna were added. By last year, it was just me, John and Susan along with Mom and Dad. But they still made turkey every year, with mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberry salad, rolls, asparagus and sometimes sweet potatoes. When we were kids, Joe loved that cranberry sauce from a can. Sometimes Mom would make it later just to kid him. Mom used to make the turkey by herself, but in later years Dad helped her. Dad would carve it. Last year they just made a small turkey breast. I thought some day I would have to start doing some cooking, but Mom and Dad weren't to that point yet and they liked doing it. Mom would make a pumpkin pie and pecan pie or cherry pie. Sometimes my birthday fell on Thanksgiving Day. When that happened, she would make a chocolate cake for me.
Afterwards, we would all gather in the living room and watch a movie together. Dad wasn't much of a movie person. Sometimes he would watch it, but usually he would be up and down throughout.

Mom's pumpkin pie was my favorite. I loved it. I had pumpkin pie this year, but it was not the same as Mom's.

Miss you Mom and Dad.

Love,

Susie

Happy Birthday, Dad

Today would have been Dad's 84th birthday. This is a picture taken last year on this day. I like it because Dad looks good and you can see Mom in the background. Birthdays were always a big deal for Dad. He ALWAYS took a picture of you on your birthday and frequently we went out to eat and celebrate. On his birthday, his brothers would call him. Uncle Bill would always sing to him.

My friend, Kim Wheeler, left me a card this morning encouraging me to remember what a good man he was and to remember all the good times.

One story I'd like to share is from two years ago. Dad got this card in the mail from Sam's Club letting him know he could get a free birthday cake from the bakery. So here's this 82 year old man, all excited about getting his cake. You should have seen him running through Sam's. Well, not really running, but he was in a hurry to get to that bakery and pick out his cake! It was so cute and one of those lovable things about Dad. He loved birthdays. Whenever we would sing Happy Birthday to him, he would sing along too! Mom used to say, "You're not supposed to sing for your own birthday!!!" But he always did and again, it was one of those endearing things about him.

I always tried to make it a special day for him. Pictures, card, cake, gifts. I wanted him to feel loved and appreciated because he was. I used to get Dad funny cards, but then, later I got him more sentimental ones. When we were going through their things, I found some of these that he had kept. That really meant a lot to me.

Happy Birthday, Dad. We love you and miss you.

Susie