Why I’m ignoring the fact that it’s November…

I keep seeing them, on facebook and blogs—thankful lists.  (One of my ambitious cousins is even listing as many things as the date—5 things on the 5th, 6 on the 6th, etc.)  Me?  Mostly not.  (Though I was thankful that I didn’t cut my fingers off the other day when I cut a quince improperly.)

In years past I’ve been happy to turn my blogging thoughts to thankfulness in November.  It’s always been a lovely experience for me.  But this year I’ve been distracted and resistant.

Distracted by my night in the emergency room and the subsequent effort to figure out what I can eat (and when I should eat it) to keep my stomach from hurting.  Which turns out to be a total pain.  Distracted by the fact that Russ woke up last Monday morning unable to move without agonizing pain.  Which turns out to be a bulging disc.  Distracted by Jared running a high fever for several days and laying on the couch without doing anything for an entire day.  (Which is always the part that worries me more than the fever.)  Which lasted almost three days.  Distracted by the ongoing pressure of keeping school going, feeding people, and trying to occasionally unpack a box. 

I did think of a thankful project that would be good for me, and which I may still do.  I think it would be a healthy thing for me to figure out, say, 30 things that I like about my new house.  So that’s been perking in the background a little.  But I haven’t been able to make myself start working on it.

I finally think I figured out at least part of what’s going on. 

Any other year, a thankfulness project was leading in one direction—to Thanksgiving Day, a day combining comfort foods and comfort friends in over-the-top amounts.  And the thing is, we could re-create the foods this year.  But this is our first big moment of alone-ness, the first in what is usually a series of things-done-with-friends but will now be completely different.

And we are all hating the thought.

I’m not sure what we will do.  We were invited to go on a multi-day Thanksgiving camping trip, but given the situation with Russ’s back it’s a good thing we weren’t planning on doing that.  In theory we could drive the 12 hrs to Utah and be with all sorts of loved ones, but I’m not sure that’s a good idea at this point in our life.  What is sure is that whatever we do, we will be missing our people.  The sous-chef who came early to help with the cooking.  The oreo pie maker who came later with her pie.  And the rest of their family…