Later In the Month.....

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. In some ways this year has gone by in a flash.....and in others it feels like the days crawl by. But here we are in mid-November with 2021 coming at us fast. I feel hopeful for this new year......concerned still.....but hopeful. Like everyone I know Dave and I hope to get back to something approaching a more "normal" existence. Or rather a new normal.

We won't be part of a gathering this year to share turkey and all the sides. It will be just the two of us sharing the day with Fenway. I told Dave I would not be cooking so we've ordered turkey, gravy and a good veggie from a nice restaurant near us. I will do my cousin's recipe for cranberry sauce and Dave does want to do his smashed potatoes but in-the-kitchen time will be very, very short. It just isn't as much fun to prepare all the traditional things for only the two of us.

I'm already preparing myself to feel sort of "low" for the holiday....and then I pull myself up short and try to even begin to list all the things for which I am thankful. It's a long list.

As I walked past the pile of eight baby quilts sitting in the dining room they helped me to realize that I am fortunate this year. November 16th after more than eight months of semi-quarantine and social distancing and only seeing friends at outdoor gatherings, our little family and all of our closest friends are OK. (Knock wood.) Some days I feel like we are dodging bullets.....but so far, we are dodging.

These eight quilts will be dropped off at area hospitals to cover isolets in the NICU's. Eight babies who need special care and won't be home for awhile....or at all. Eight families not as fortunate as mine.

So I will  look at this colorful pile and I will, once again, remind myself to just "buckle up buttercup" and stop my interior and exterior complaining.