Thanksgiving-2009

My husband and I are about to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary, no easy task when you consider that no spring chickens walked down our aisle. He had been divorced and I had been conscientiously seeking out only men who would rather have nails driven into the soles of their feet than commit to a lifelong relationship. I had Chronic Rejection Syndrome, a condition in which the surest way to my heart was to tell me you were leaving. So it was odd when this terrific guy actually stayed. It was odder that I wanted him to. And here he is today, coughing and complaining in the throes of an upper respiratory event that has laid waste to his energy, his mood and our bank account for over two weeks; kicking me out of the room we shared until the plague sent me to sleep in my son’s abandoned room so I wouldn’t get it. But my son came home last night for Thanksgiving and asked for his bed back so I returned to my own bed along with Camille (Camillo?); surely he’s not still contagious! But he just kicked me out of there because my typing is bothering him. Swine flu? Who knows? It looks like we will toast our anniversary with chicken soup unless we kill each other first.

I just opened an email from Susan Bysiewicz, paid for by Friends of Susan 2010, which tells me she is running for something bigger than what she has now; perhaps Governor. It also tells me that she has much better friends than I do because they paid for her to send me this letter. Why this was necessary I don’t quite understand. To my knowledge email is free so where was the cost? Did she pay to have someone else write it? I don’t think so because she talks about her family, what they will be eating for Thanksgiving, and how frickin’ lucky she is compared to a whole bunch of us. Did she pay someone to send it for her? Because that is hard work: writing the letter, inputting the mailing list and pressing “Send.” Perhaps her friends are paying for Constant Comment, that service that keeps that junk mail coming on a more personal level.

In the letter she quotes “our dear friend Ted Kennedy” who quoted the biblical passage that inspired much of his great work: “To whom much is given, much is expected.” Her immediate actions on behalf of those less fortunate than she is will be to pray for the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan and to light a candle for people like me; the unemployed and economically thunderstruck residents of CT who are watching our futures circle the drain and are wondering which welfare hotel we will retire to, assuming there will be any welfare left.

I want to make it clear that I kind of like Susan. (That’s how she signed the letter so I feel like I know her well enough to call her that.) I’m a registered Democrat and really believe I have a better chance of living somewhere other than a park bench if Democrats are in control, assuming they get off their asses and TAKE control. If the letter had been from anyone else, say a republican or a certain recently turned independent, I probably wouldn’t have even read their bullshit. But I have to say that the image of the Bysiewicz family gorging on “the turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, plus great dishes like kapusta and spanakopita from both the Greek and Polish sides” of her family while she is “thinking about the work that lies ahead to bring economic prosperity back to Connecticut” made me a little… sick. It made me think of all the families that will be wondering how they can stretch the leftovers to last for a week until the thought of reheated turkey, turkey sandwiches, turkey Tetrazzini, turkey hash and turkey surprise causes Junior to threaten Mom with bodily harm if she even uses the word “turkey” again!

She did utter (print?) a prayer “that all families can celebrate at this time in 2010 without the anxiety that has marked so much of the past year.” If I had any belief left in the power of prayer, I would say the same thing.

“From (Susan’s) family to yours”, and from me and mine, “have a happy and safe Thanksgiving.”