Chapter 14 - Thanksgiving on Our Terms
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For the first time in fourteen years of marriage, Thanksgiving dinner was hosted right here in our Germantown dining room.
There was no frantic rush to pack three days' worth of luggage, no driving four hours north to endure passive-aggressive lectures about table manners, and no walking on eggshells around people who viewed our lives as a secondary priority.
Instead, our table was surrounded by the people who truly mattered: Sarah, Amy, our next-door neighbors who had watered our plants while we were away at Silver Lake, and my brother David, who had driven down from Louisville with his wife and two kids.
The dining room smelled of roasted turkey, sage dressing, maple-glazed sweet potatoes, and freshly baked pecan pie.
As Ben carved the turkey at the head of the table, flanked by our laughing, boisterous family, he paused for a brief moment, raising his glass of sparkling cider toward the center of the room.
“To new beginnings,” Ben said, his voice ringing clear and strong across the table. “To family built on honesty, love, and respect. And to never letting anyone make you feel small for shining your own light.”
May you like
“Hear, hear!” David cheered, clinking his glass against mine.
Ella stood up from her chair, proudly holding up her framed track medals resting on the sideboard behind her, beaming from ear to ear as everyone raised their glasses in a joyous toast.
