Misty Gravy-Covered Memories of the Way We Were

I've been thinking a lot about Thanksgiving lately. This is in large part because there are just two more weeks of school until an entire blessed week off. Also, I'm flying out to DC to visit a bunch of friends there. I'll have what I believe will be my fourth Thanksgiving with Katie (correct me if I've missed one, Katie.) And I'm heading up to Princeton to visit my friends Sharon and Eili there and get a tour of the campus. Oh, and hang out with Sharon's elementary schoolers on Wednesday. On my vacation from school, I am going to school. The key difference here being that I will not be in charge.

Anyway, all of that thinking about Thanksgiving has me recalling some Thanksgivings past. The one I thought I'd tell you about was my first Thanksgiving away from Wisconsin. It was in DC in 1999. My friend Karin, who worked with me at the time, was hosting Thanksgiving for anybody with no family in the area. Everybody had to bring one Thanksgiving side dish or dessert. And a sandwich topping.

We had turkey sandwiches with stuffing, potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, various other vegetables, cranberry sauce, bread, and pie. Then we watched Home for the Holidays in order to make ourselves feel better about not being with our families. I don't remember a whole lot else about that day, except that we laughed a lot and it was a really, surprisingly good day.

I had just moved to DC that August and only started my job there the month before Thanksgiving. I'm not sure I had any idea of what I might do for the holiday before Karin invited me. It's not likely that I had high hopes for my Thanksgiving that year. It was also sort of my first grown-up Thanksgiving, on my own as a non-college student adult. I think maybe it made me feel a little more confident in my ability to do the whole living on my own thing. I got a job. I made some friends. I found a place for myself.

Thinking back, it's astounding the impact having gotten that job has made on the entire rest of my life. It was in the education field and helped lead me in that direction. It was during summers off from teaching civics with them that I got my first job doing reading remediation. I wouldn't even have known about the reading job, had it not been for one of my coworkers, who went on to be my roommate in New York. I'm not sure I would have gone if I hadn't had a friend also interested moving there. Several of my closest friends to this day are former coworkers from that first job out of college.

Including Karin. Since that first Thanksgiving together, she's gotten married, gotten ordained an Episcopal priest, and had two adorable kids. It's hard to believe that it's been ten years since she was kind enough to invite a 22 year-old with a thick Wisconsin accent over to her Thanksgiving orphan holiday. Thinking about that makes me feel old, so I prefer to focus on how I'll see her again in just two weeks back in DC. My home away from home for the holidays.