Pre-Thanksgiving thoughts

On a summer Saturday, there might be 30 people there, too many even for six courts.

But on a chilly Wednesday in November, there were just five of us, and with the tennis nets down, any balls that got away on one end rolled until they reached the fence on the far side.

However, when it’s the day before Thanksgiving, and the weather lets you play pickleball (or really do anything) outside, you’re happy.

I wouldn’t have been doing much in the morning, anyway, so why not make the extra dollar an hour and get to my parents’ house in time for football?

Getting up at 4:30 a.m. wasn’t pleasant, and seemingly the only things on TV at that hour were “Scholastic Sports America” and an NRA infomercial, but in my days of working at a grocery store, I didn’t really mind the 6 a.m.-to-noon shift.

I was even OK with it on Thanksgiving Day. By the time Thanksgiving rolls around, if you don’t have the big stuff, you’re probably not going to have it, so we didn’t have a lot of customers, and the ones we had were basically just grabbing a thing or two they had forgotten.

I wouldn’t have been doing much in the morning, anyway, so why not make the extra dollar an hour and get to my parents’ house in time for football?

With minor tweaks here and there, this has been our Thanksgiving routine for years. 

And then when that’s all over — or maybe even a little before — we’l start planning for Christmas.

We’ll be hitting the road in the morning, first to meet Suzi’s parents at a restaurant for dinner, then to their house in Connecticut.

Friday morning, Suzi and her mother will shop; I’ve heard word her father wants to go bowling. After lunch, we’ll head to see my family in New York.

I’m not sure whether it’ll be Friday or Saturday, but we’ll try to arrange a big family dinner, and then we’ll go home sometime on Saturday. Depending on how that works out, Suzi and I will either do a little shopping or try to visit friends.

With minor tweaks here and there, this has been our Thanksgiving routine for years.

And then when that’s all over — or maybe even a little before — we’l start planning for Christmas.

Thanks to all, and if you celebrate … Happy Thanksgiving.

Suzi is, of course, the best.

So are my family and friends.

And while the audience for this blog isn’t the biggest, it astounds me the people who do read it and seem to like it.

Thanks to all, and if you celebrate … Happy Thanksgiving.

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