A Thanksgiving memory. Twenty years ago the woman, who would become my wife, and I shared our first Thanksgiving together. For the previous 33 years I had always had dinner with my family but that year they had all decided to go to Hawaii and have a family dinner with my younger brother who had moved there the year before. It would be the first Thanksgiving that I would not have dinner with my family and the first Thanksgiving that would require me to prepare my own if I wanted one. That Summer I met a woman in the neighborhood and we became a couple. Together that year we prepared a dinner for the two of us and began a long tradition that continues to this day. The pies came out of the oven awhile ago, the turkey went in and I'm taking a break before I start working on the rest of dinner. The largest tasks are completed and a little of my anxiety has lifted. I do miss the time when my Mother took care of everthing and all I had to do was sit down and eat and take a long nap afterwards but at some point in our lives we become the grownups and pick up the tasks of our parents. My Mom now gets to sit down to the table I've prepared along with my wife and our sons and she can just eat and nap afterwards. Traditions are work, but worth the effort. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.