Happy Thanksgiving! If you are hosting people this holiday and have not begun to thaw the turkey, I feel bad for your guests. Fortunately, I am going over to my brother Mike’s house. Or I should say, my sister-in-law Pam’s house, since she is the one who does the cooking.
Many families have a tradition of going around the table and expressing things that make them feel most grateful. The Fitzgerald family never did this. I am not sure if it was because there were too many of us and the food would have gotten cold, or my parents feared what would come out of our mouths. When hosting Thanksgiving at my house, I’ve tried a few times to get people to talk about what they were thankful for, but I was greeted with glares and guffaws. Fortunately, I have this column, so I can spare my family.
I am thankful to you, the readers of this column. One of life’s pleasures is receiving an email from a reader who enjoyed my writing, related to something I said, or got a laugh from it. And sure, every once in a while, I get someone who disagrees with me. I gently point out that my name, not theirs, is at the top of the column. No, actually, I thank them for their opinions and then decide never to write about that topic again. I love writing the column, but I love hearing you like it even more! I think I do have a little bit of Sally Field in me (not the part that dated Burt Reynolds).
I am thankful for my family; they provide me with an endless number of stories. My brothers and sister deserve some privacy, but I have chosen to give them none. I suspect it is because I am the youngest, and in my own way, it is payback for all the hand-me-downs, lack of parental attention and teasing about my desire to share everything that is remotely interesting. A single lunch with this group provides me with several columns worth of material. I hope they will always remember my famous admonition, “Love you. Don’t die.”
I am thankful for my son, daughter and daughter-in-law. I try not to write about them too much because, well, my daughter can get really mean when provoked (like her mom), and I swore I would be a good mother-in-law. That means I can’t really write much about my son or daughter-in-law. Just know that I’m well aware—in the lottery of children, I won!
I am thankful for my husband. We have been married 35 years. Most people find that hard to believe. Me too! I feel like I am only 45 years old. Ours is not a perfect marriage, but we both admit it, which may be why we’ve been together this long. Neither of us is looking for perfection … just lots of love, laughs and happiness.
I am thankful for my friends. It’s hard to believe I’ve known some of them since age 14! Friends are the family you get to choose, and I am very happy with my selections. There are a few nuts in the group, but each brings something special to my box of assorted chocolates.
Wasn’t that nice? Feel free to make changes and use my thoughts at your table. (If I try, I will be met with, “Give it up, Patty, we aren’t the Waltons.”) True, but I love them all anyway.
Contact Patty at phannum@townandstyle.com.