Yesterday I--we spared the life of a turkey...something I'm very pleased to say. For, at my insistence (or rather, my persistence), we went out for a Thanksgiving celebration, rather than celebrate with the usual custom of first, going on a supermarket hunt for the most suitable, feather-plucked headless gobbler we could grab--before someone else does--then bringing our utterly speechless victim home for the customary applications of culinary "beauty rubs", buttery "mud masks", glazed "foundation" and a finishing "powder" of salt & spices.
From our restaurant booth with its wonderful view of the approaching sunset, I, for one, was perfectly content (and no less thankful) to munch my carefully prepared medium-well burger with mushrooms paired with a Cesar's salad with delicate dressing, all the while enjoying an introspective conversation with my daughter. That and topping the evening off with a pleasant visit to the movie theater to see a viewing of J. Edgar, seemed "celebration" enough for me. All that would have made this Thanksgiving moment better as far as I'm concerned, would have been if the restaurant was somewhere in Manhattan rather than Upstate New York. Well, maybe next Thanksgiving we'll do Manhattan.
On a certain level, I no longer view Thanksgiving with the same innocent optimism--you know, the kind I did as a kid. Knowing how out-of-whack society can often seem, and at worse, how dangerous a place it can be for women, children, single mom, widows, orphans...the more vulnerable members of society, for me this day of thanks isn't necessarily defined by the tantalizing splendor of a juicy turkey dinner, but rather, with whom one spends this special day with. And perhaps more importantly, with whom not.
***********************************
No comments:
Post a Comment