Recently, Thanksgiving has meant a run in the morning in Baldwinsville and watching football in the afternoon. For some reason, I actually root for the Cowboys on Thanksgiving now and this, from a guy who absolutely despised "America's Team" growing up. I could not stand the then novel, "Shotgun Formation" that they employed on offense, nor their squeaky clean quarterback, Roger Staubach. Year after year, I would watch that guy go untouched in that Shotgun, as they defeated some hapless team. I much preferred the guys with all the charisma. People such as "Broadway Joe" Namath and Kenny "the Snake" Stabler. Thanksgiving has changed a lot for me over the years.
Most of the time, Thanksgiving was all about the food. My mother would put together this fabulous spread of turkey, stuffing, mash potatoes and gravy, squash, cranberry sauce, sherbet, and Tammie's favorite, watermelon rind. For me, that stuff was all mushy, icky, and tasted a bit tart. I thought it might work as a hair gel, but didn't see it as something edible. I much preferred the known quantities, items like mash potatoes and gravy, squash and turkey. By the way, all of this delicious food was displayed on my mother's Gliddenware. My mother attended Alfred and they were quite well known for these ceramics. In any event, Tammie and I always seemed to see things a bit differently and watermelon rind was just one small example.
Since her passing, however, I have found that we were more similar than I would have ever imagined. She battled her whole life to do things in a manner that would allow her to succeed on her own terms and I am going to find a way; you'll see. For now, I am going to fill up on watermelon rind.
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