Thanksgiving Throwback

I have to admit, I’m sad I’m not running a turkey trot this year!  Even a virtual one would have been good… but my foot says no. Other than that, our Thanksgiving isn’t much different from other years.  We don’t have any family close by and we don’t like to travel over Thanksgiving, so it’s usually just the four of us at home.  Since there won’t be a fun race recap or anything this year, I thought it would be nice to look back on previous Thanksgiving memories.

Seven years ago, it was our first Thanksgiving without either of my parents.  So sad… but to make things more festive, I invited a friend and her two daughters over for Thanksgiving dinner.  The morning of Thanksgiving, my friend called to tell me her youngest girl, Pia, wasn’t feeling well.  Because we really wanted their company, I told her to come over anyway.  (Ha- “You’re sick? Come on over!” Definitely not 2020!).  Well… literally as soon as they walked through the door, Pia threw up all over the place.  Her mom was carrying her at the time and had to spend the rest of Thanksgiving in an old sweater of my husband’s.  Miraculously, Pia went on to eat a large Thanksgiving dinner and then jump on the trampoline for half an hour.  Crazy kids!

The following year, my daughter was in kindergarten and had to write and illustrate a story about a “favorite Thanksgiving memory.”  The words are a little hard to read, but the picture says it all…

Yes, I think we’ll all remember that one.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving 2018!  My running had been going well, and I WON MY AGE GROUP in the turkey trot!!!  I was thrilled- previous to that race I had placed in my age group several times and won it in a very small race, but this was the first time winning in such a big one.  I got a trophy and everything!

The following year I was coming off an injury.  I could run but I hadn’t been doing speedwork.  I was happy to be running at all, but I ran quite a bit slower.  That year a large group of runners from New York invaded, er I mean,  joined our race and swept several of the age groups, including mine.  Even if I had run as fast as I had the previous year, I wouldn’t even have placed. It just goes to show you… it’s all about who shows up  that day.

The other takeaway is to celebrate the victories when you can.  My family heard quite a bit about “the race I won” that day (kind of like the triathlon that I “won”).  My turkey trophy was prominently displayed.  We have to appreciate those moments because we don’t know if we’ll win next time, or even be able to run the race.

If we really think about it, we all have things to appreciate right now, even in 2020, things we would miss terribly if they were taken away from us.  Instead of being sad about what we don’t have, we can celebrate the small victories and circumstances of our lives that are special to us.  Why do I feel like this is turning into a cheesy TV special… somewhere, somehow, I can just imagine Linus saying “That’s what Thanksgiving is all about, Charlie Brown.”

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!