Writers Workshop

When I was a kid I used to love to write.  I remember writing a story about my Cabbage Patch Kids, I had a series about 2 sisters named Angela and Denise, and I wrote poems.  I loved keeping diaries.  My very first one was given to me in second grade by my aunt and it was purple with a unicorn on the front.  In 7th grade my Language Arts teacher was thinking of creating a publication of his students writing and so I gave him a collection of my poems.   Somewhere along the line I lost that desire to write.  I never fostered the creative writing gene.  I'm afraid I seem to have lost it all together.  (luckily I can still pull out a school paper in no time and get an A which came in handy when I was going back to school!).  I think spending so much time with the kids and not enough time with adult interaction should have helped my imagination and creative writing gene.  It doesn't seem to have helped but I can tell you with certainty that it has affected my vocabulary.  In a very bad way.  I don't think I even use words that contain more than 4 letters, definately no more than 5 max.  What's even worse is that sometimes when I'm talking I can't even remember words!  My brain has turned to mush.  But anyway, last week I participated in Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop for the first time and I'm going to give it another whirl this week. 

The Prompts: (which I thought were very good this week)
1.) A Thanksgiving to be remembered... (I have several to be remembered...though I'm trying to forget!)
2.)Describe the most destructive thing your pet has done.
3.) Describe in 1000 words or less a time when something happened and you knew that life would never be the same. (Instead of writing about this one I'll sum it up with one simple sentence:  THE DAY THE STICK TURNED PINK!)
4.)Share a diary entry from when you were 13...feel free to make one up! (I'm kind of disappointed that I didn't keep it because I'm sure we'd all get a good laugh.  Then again, I'm probaly relievd not to have it to share)
5.)Describe a moment you felt embarrassed by your parents. (doesn't that describe every day from late childhood through teenage years??)

So....the prompt I chose is a Thanksgiving to be remembered. 

Thanksgiving is an odd time of year for me.  I've been trying to boycott it for the past few but my family has been ganging up on me.  Last year I BEGGED my husband to make plans to go away and he just wouldn't have it.  I knew I should have volunteered to work on Thanksgiving day! 

So there are actually several Thanksgivings to be remembered in my life.  I'll start with the Thanksgiving of 1997.  All of my life we ate Thanksgiving dinner at my grandmother's house (Nanny).  We always had a feast fit for a king....we could feed several families for several days there was so much food.  It always starts with a course of lasagna before we move on to turkey.  This particular Thanksgiving we knew was going to be Nanny's last.  She had lung cancer and things were getting worse.  We still gathered in her house as usual and my mom and aunt prepared dinner that year.  I had to work that evening and since Nanny had a thing about nurses wearing white, I made sure I brought a white skirt and blouse for work so she could remember me as a vision in white before heading off.  We always eat early so I should have had plenty of time to eat before scurrying off to work.  But the power kept going out that day.  Making it very difficult to cook in an electric oven/range.  And every time it came back on....it kept going out.  By the time they were able to get dinner ready it was time for me to leave.  I shoved something little down as quick as I could and took a plate with me for dinner that night.  I said goodbye to my grandmother and left for work in tears.  And we were right, it was her very last Thanksgiving with us....she passed away on December 13.

After Nanny passed away my brother bought her house.  So we continued to have our Thanksgiving dinners there so as not to break tradition.  My brother was very adament about this.  The funny part is that he is a bachelor and doesn't cook.  So even though we ate at his house my mom did all the cooking.

Thanksgiving 2006 we were cleaning up dinner dishes so we could prepare for dessert.  Well my other grandmother had different plans.  She fell down the stairs while on her way back from the bathroom and broke her hip.  She was carted off in an ambulance and Thanksgiving ended with bang.

In 2007 my brother had a bad flood in his home and much of it had to be gutted.  So for the first time in my life and his life we had to move Thanksgiving dinner.  This was very weired to us.  We moved it to my mom's house and still packed in the people.  Well, this year my grandfather was in the hospital and very ill.  Over dinner I found out that they had placed a feeding tube in him and I got very angry at my grandmother and uncle.  I left the table and refused to speak with them.  I was very upset and angry, I felt they were just prolonging his misery.  I left with my husband to go visit him at the hospital.  When I left I made it clear that my uncle and grandmother were to wait until I left the hospital to go because I would not be in the same room with them.  I got there and things were bad, very bad.  My cousins arrived a few minutes after I did.  Luckily the doctor was there making rounds and I was able to talk with her.  My assessment was correct, he was not going to make it through the night.  I called my mom and told her everyone needed to come in as quick as they could.  Everyone arrived within 45 minutes and my grandfather passed away minutes later with all of us around his bedside.  I still can't get it out of my head.  As a nurse I've been at the bedside many times, but this was my grandfather and so very different. 

So, last year I decided that Thanksgiving had become a jinxed holiday for us.  Since things happen in 3s I really didn't want to be around to see what the "big finale" would be.  As I stated above, I begged my husband to go away.  He felt that family needs to be together and my mom would probably need us there.  So begrudgingly I went and it was just a very odd day.  However, nothing extrodinary happened. 

This year my mom is layed up from surgery and can't walk.  I was all set to use that as an excuse not to have dinner again but my brother bamboozled me with a plan and I thought it was so sweet and uncharacteritic of him that I had to agree.  So, this year we will be returning to my parents house and my brother will be in charge of the turkey, appetizers and drinks and I will be preparing the rest.  Wish us luck! 

If you have mad it to the end of this incredibly long post then here is where I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving.  I hope you all have a feast fit for kings and many blessings to count.