>Grandchildren, Godchildren and Thanksgiving

>Yesterday was Grandparents Day at Grace Saint Luke’s school in Memphis, where our Goddaughter, Sophie Mansour is in second grade. Sophie’s grandparents live in Atlanta and Syria, so they haven’t been able to make it for this special day yet. I’ve been fortunate to go twice, but yesterday I was still here at Seagrove, so my husband went! I asked him to get a picture of the two of them together, but he forgot. He did send a few pictures of Sophie…

while working on her list of things she loves about her grandparents (and I think she meant us *cough cough* Godparents, we well.)

And joining her classmates in a special Thanksgiving song

I’m sure there will be more refrigerator art when I get home!

We were in Denver for Thanksgiving last year, which was the first time Pops met our first granddaughter, Grace.

It was such fun to share a Thanksgiving meal with our daughter-in-law’s family. They’re Hmong, and the foods on the table were a delicious mix of traditional Southern (Jason) and Hmong (See and Ia, See’s mother) foods.

Jonathan had just left for Afghanastan, a few weeks before Thanksgiving last year. This year we have a different treat in store: Pops and I are meeting in Birmingham, where we will be guests of our Godson, Damon Boiles III and his wife, Weezie. DIII’s parents, our dear friends, Damon and Madeleine Boiles, will be there from Memphis (Pops is riding over with them on Wednesday)… and… wait for it… JON will be driving
up from Savannah to join us! It will be our first time to see him since his return from Afghanastan a couple of weeks ago. Can’t wait to get my arms around him! It will make my leaving Seagrove much more bearable.

Jon has been friends with Damon III since they were in 7th grade together in Memphis. I think the last time we were all together was at Damon and Weezie’s wedding, a few years back in Huntsville.

Damon and Madeleine are always great fun to be with. This was in August of 2008 when we were at their house celebrating Damon’s birthday. It turned into a spontaneous “Mad Hatter’s” party as we took turns dressing up in their fun collection of hats, furs and guns.

And of course I can’t wait to see my sweet hubby again, after our month apart while I’ve been writing at Seagrove. (Okay we did have a one-night rendezvous in Oxford two weeks ago, when I was there directing the Creative Nonfiction Conference, but still, a month is a long time!) This has been such a gift—this time for me to pull my writing project together without any other responsibilities. I’ve penned about two-thirds of the book, revising as I go, so I’ll be ready to keep the story moving forward and then do the heavy revisions after I get back to Memphis. Watching so many couples enjoying their time together on the beach here has made me miss him more. I have great memories of our “dance” here in May, and look forward to many more to come.

So… this is a winding post about grandchildren, Godchildren and Thanksgiving. I’ll end with a link to a fun site about the holiday’s history and traditions. We visited Plimoth Plantation about 30 years ago, and it was fun to see the actors playing the parts of the early settlers, including my husband’s ancestor, Thomas Cushman (fourteen generations back, I think) who came over on the Mayflower and was an elder at Plymouth. I always enjoy this picture of our Korean daughter, Beth, dressed as an Indian for her kindergarden Thanksgiving celebration. (That’s me and my mom with Beth, in 1987.) What an interesting combination of cultures. I wish I could find the picture of Jason dressed as a pilgrim and waving an American flag. It was actually in the Jackson newspaper in 1984, when he became a U.S. Citizen, and it’s in a coffee table book about Jackson that’s at home right now so I can’t scan it.

I hope you will be with someone you love and enjoy some delicious food! My next post will be from Memphis, after I return home on Friday. I hear it’s going to be cold. Guess I won’t be writing in my swimsuit any more for a while. I think I’ll put a picture of the beach on the wall behind my computer and get one of those machines that makes sounds like ocean waves breaking on the shore. Definitely bringing the muse back to Memphis with me.
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.