Thanksgiving in August

Kell's mention of Thanksgiving in this post reminded me of one of my favorite Thanksgivings ever. If you can't write about Thanksgiving in August, why bother to have a blog at all?

I was a first year law student and too freaked out about the need to study for finals to take time to actually leave the state to go home for the weekend. So a few friends/classmates and I decided that we would have our own Thanksgiving together.

K hosted our gathering and she provided many of the traditional Thanksgiving dishes, as well as a lovely environment in which we could enjoy them. E donated a turkey that he won through a radio contest; I still giggle at the thought of him winning a Turkey, but it's true--he did--and it was delicious! (Looking back on it, it is remarkable that K let him bring a turkey, as she was a fairly staunch vegetarian, I think.) A provided the dessert for our little feast, which if I recall correctly was a "flowerpot cake," with chocolate cake as dirt and other fixings that we found amusing. I cannot for the life of me recall what my own contribution was, but I suspect it was something that required no skill of any kind, such as rolls and wine or something.

K, E, A and I had a great time at what felt like our first grown-up holiday dinner, meaning the first one that we had prepared for ourselves, instead of eating with our own families or someone else's family. Well after dinner ended--later in Thanksgiving weekend--E was kind enough to drive me to the hospital for what proved to be my second of three bouts with kidney stones. I remember this trip most vividly due to the doctor catching E trying to pocket some spare rubber gloves he found in the examination room for later use.

But what I remember most about that time together with my friends was that we felt like a family. It was in spending time with them that I realized we can choose our own families in the friends with whom we surround ourselves. I did not realize it at the time, but that Thanksgiving was the beginning of a family of a different kind.