Thanksgiving Day, 1998
I really wasn't sure if I was going to like this volunteer thing I said I'd do with mom... I've never really liked being around lots of people, so I was dreading it, in a way. Before I left that morning, Jev and I had chatted on Netmeeting, and he asked me to give everyone I saw a nice smile... darn him if I couldn't wipe the smile off my face the whole time I was there! ;) It's all his fault!! Now Mom keeps commenting to all her friends how I had a big ear to ear grin on my face the whole time we were there, and it gets on my nerves when she does, but I guess I'll live.
When we stopped at the senior apartments to pick up one of mom's friends on our way out to the restaurant (the woman drives me totally nuts, and I was NOT happy when Mom pulled in the loading zone and she was waiting at the door... she hadn't told me that the Pest was coming!), I figured that my day was pretty much shot. Fortunately for me, Ms. Pest really wasn't up to helping serve in the food line... she may have served for about 5 minutes, but she was much further down the line and I didn't even realize that she was there, so I didn't have to put up with her gossip.
Mom and I slipped in while they were still making carry-out trays up, and started serving where people were doing double-duty. Mom got mashed potatoes, and I got stood behind a big glass punch bowl full of jellied cranberries.
It wasn't a hard job, and the volunteers were all very friendly and helpful when anyone needed anything. Most of the people through the line after we finished the deliveries were elderly, or families with a few children, where money was probably too tight to cook up a fancy meal.
The kids, as usual, made my day... most of them didn't even want to come close to the cranberries, but a few brave souls tried them, and maybe even liked them! One mom was happy to get her son's cranberries, when he didn't want them. There was a young guy next to me serving the corn, and we were teasing each other over who couldn't get rid of their stuff; he had a long streak where nobody wanted corn, but the cranberry avoiders were more widely scattered. I must have gone through about three of the institutional sized (gallon?) cans of jellied cranberries in those two hours, and that was just one of the things they were serving, so I imagine a lot of people had a very nice meal, thanks to the restaurant owner and everyone else who contributed to make the event what it was.
The local news had sent a reporter, and he interviewed the owner of the restaurant, and shot some footage here and there; we were in the way a couple times when he was filming, but none of that made it to the news broadcast.... there went my big shot! (ha!) Actually, I've been on national cable once... in a line waiting for a Ricochet autograph session down in Columbia a few years ago. *chuckle* I guess I've had my five seconds of fame!
We served for a couple hours, and Mom started getting tired (she keeps insisting that I was the one who was tired, but I'm not the one who came home and went straight to sleep!), so we made our way through the other side of the line, and got our plates filled, then went out and ate with Ms. Pest. She had eaten earlier, when one of her friends from church had come through the line, and Mom told the friend where she could be found.
I came home a little tired, but happy, and all in all, I had a nice day. I still think of Thanksgiving as a family thing, having spent most of my turkey days with my dad's side of the family back in California, but it was still better than staying home and having a can of soup for dinner or something. I'm looking forward to Jev and I having Thanksgiving together again, like we did last year. And looking forward to this Christmas even more!
