Last year I didn't have clue that my daughter was a heroin addict. Last Thanksgiving my daughter got a call and was told that one of her friends had hung himself and almost died...of course that started a screaming crying fit....it turns a family event into a traumatic experience.
This year it was different, both heroin addicts in the family are both clean...and were very excited to be at the family event. One of the oxy addicts was not doing very well because he ran out of oxy's...and was in pain. The other oxy addict was fine...[both of these family members are prescribed oxy's for pain].
Anyway, our family is quite large at least 30 come to dinner each year. The oldest woman in our immediate family [the matriarch] organizes all family events...She makes sure that everyone is included on the "TO DO" list. But for some reason I'm always chosen as the "runner"... I have to get the tables, get the chairs, set them up, pick up silverware from one family and plates from another...find table cloths and make sure everyone is bringing what they've been asked to bring. I also have to make sure the matriarchs list is updated so she can relay the information to others as needed. I make calls, clean, prepare food, take out trash, run errands...I'm the all around run her to death girl...no one likes the job so they all point to me when the matriarch asks for a volunteer.
This year I didn't really mind though, because this year I decided we would do things a little differently. Instead of everyone eating in different rooms we (all 30 of us) would eat together in one room and we would say a blessing...and everyone would write down the one thing they were thankful for...and place it in a bowl.
During dinner everyone passed the [thankful bowl] and took turns reading the notes. The responses were anonymous but it was pretty easy to figure out who said what. The responses ranged from "I'm thankful for a job" to "I'm thankful for the color blue"...It was a really, really nice Thanksgiving. Everyone was laughing...even the matriarch...everyone was crowded but didn't seem to care. What a Thanksgiving...I think they're all supposed to be like this one....Happy Holidays everyone....[smile]...
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