A wee bit homesick

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  A day that makes me nostalgic for the days of my youth.  Going to the high school football game.  Coming home to a house full of family and a delicious abundant and never ending feast.  Squeezing some 8+ people into a tiny kitchen where a table for 4 barely fit was nothing short of a miracle in and of itself!

Of course in the 25 years since I left home and went off to college, things have changed.  I married. I moved to another town. I had children.  All but one of my grandparents have died.  My parents eventually moved to Florida.  My grandmother and aunt followed them.  I got divorced.  My sister got married and has a family of her own.  I got remarried.  My family and extended family has changed quite a bit over the years.

Despite having a family of my own, I long for a good old fashioned Thanksgiving.  The way it used to be.

My husband, my boys and I are running a 5K in the morning, aptly named the Gobble Wobble.  It's in my hometown.  There are plenty of Thanksgiving 5K's around and some closer to where we now reside, but this is the one that resonates with me.  It's in familiar territory.  It begins at my old elementary school.  It re-connects me with memories of my childhood.

Today I went to pick up our race packets.  The recreation center is housed in my old kindergarten center.  Funny, the building looks a lot smaller than I remember.  ;-)  As I drove through my hometown I reminisced about growing up there.  The library, the schools, the cemetery where my grandparents are buried, the Saturday morning breakfast place, streets where my friends once lived and so it went.  I was a bit melancholy by the time I made my way home.

I can't recreate Thanksgivings past.  The best I can do is attempt to run a 5K in my hometown instead.  It's as close to coming home as it gets.

When the race is over, I shall come home, put the turkey in the over and assume the position as matriarch, at least of my household.  We shall give thanks for all that we have and all that we are.  My sister and her husband and my nephews will come over and join us.  There will be way too much food.  We will re-live and re-create moments from our youth.   We will Skype with our parents.  We might even fight over the wish bone.  We are creating our own traditions that maybe, someday, my boys will look back on with fond memories, just like the ones I have of my own childhood.

Now, to sleep!  I must be well rested to run, walk or wobble as the T-shirt says!

Wish me luck! I'm hoping it earns me extra pie!