2002-12-09|9:39 p.m.
The night before Thanksgiving A�s family drove three hours to our little apartment to have dinner with us, because I worked the next day and couldn�t drive up there as planned. Which is pretty amazing, I think, that they�d do that for me. They are the most wonderful family. Considering the break-up, its not having them be a part of my life that actually is the most devastating.
We all woke up early Thanksgiving morning to begin cooking in my tiny kitchen.
I had to step out for a few hours to drive my mom and brother to my step-dad�s convalescent home to have dinner with him. It was pretty depressing and I chose not to take pictures. He is in a pretty bad state now. He startled me when he began introducing me to someone who wasn�t there. It made my heart sink. The idea that this man was once a brilliant chemical engineer kept playing over and over in my head.
I got him water from the sink when he asked for it.
He sleeps all the time now. He was awake for maybe thirty minutes total when we were there (three hours). He�d apologize and say something like, �I am sorry I keep falling asleep. Don�t be hurt. I am very happy to have you here. You guys mean so much to me, having the family here. Just don�t worry, I�m tired.�
I assured him that it was ok and that I loved him too.
After we left my mom seemed pretty down and I asked her to come over to the feast starting at my house. She was excited to come. Here she is with my brother on the couch:
And when I got back all the cooking started:
Every year I have to put aside my notions of �equality in the kitchen� and accept boys for boys. This is parallel time to the above pictures:
And this is the beautiful end result:
It was really fun. I�m going to really miss it. But, I think the transition will be gradual. A�s mom after hearing the news from him couldn�t believe it and immediately told me that I was always welcome in her home and that she would always see me as her daughter. All I could do was cry.
I�m doing ok though. And I just wanted to tell everyone who dropped me a note, thanks. It helps.