Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving

Ah, a much-needed break. I was hoping to refocus, re-energize, and regurgitate copious amounts of food. (Not literally; it's a joke! For the last time, I'm not bulimic!). Anyway, I think it has been quite successful. Allow me to rundown my Thanksgiving holiday:

Wednesday:
6:30 AM: Woke up to catch my flight. I wasn't totally what this whole "no liquids/gels" system was on flights these days, so I just packed the bare essentials in my carry-on. How can you ask a father to choose among his children? Apparently, this meant hair-product was packed, but not deoderant. Yes, I clearly have my priorities straight.

8:30 AM: Arrive at the airport at the US Airways terminal. This made the most sense to me, since my confirmation itinerary said "US Airways" by flight number. Clearly, that was silly of me. I should have known that US Airways flights above #5000 are operated by United Airlines. Duh! So, after spending lots of time trying to get an actual human being to help me with my ticketing (oh, there are kiosks aplenty, though!), I was able to sort it out, hop on a shuttle to the correct terminal, and depart in time.

12:30 PM: Board my second flight, a tiny little "puddle-jumper." As if the leg room weren't cramped enough as it was, I had even less room, since I had to put my bag under the seat, due to the lack of room in the overhead compartment. God forbid the man in front of my put his previous cowboy hat on his lap, instead of wasting precious storage space. But I'm not bitter.

2:00 PM: Arrive in the not-so great state of Iowa. However, I was looking forward to seeing my family, namely my Mom, sister Elizabeth, Aunt Mimi, Aunt Margaret, Cousin Maddie, and Grandmom. Of course, Elizabeth neglected to mention to me earlier that she would be arriving later that night, separately from my mother. This resulted in me having to talk with all of the family without a buffer. Note to self: repay her later.

10:30 PM: Elizabeth finally arrived, and I was quite excited to see her. We immediately returned to our summer catch phrases and inside jokes without missing a beat.

Thanksgiving Day!
9:40 AM: Elizabeth woke me up to inform me that my presence was lacking downstairs in the kitchen (nevermind the fact that I baked two pecan pies the day before!). So, I rolled out of bed, put on my face, and helped cook for the remainder of the day.

1:00 PM: Gluttony. One of my favorite deadly sins. Ah, the turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, coleslaw, pie. . . it was all perfect. After having some trouble breathing, Liz and I decided to watch her tape of the latest episode of Law and Order: SVU. Disappointing. Sigh.

7:00 PM: Liz and I went to the theater to see For Your Consideration, the latest Christopher Guest film. Rather disappointing. Double sigh.

9:00 PM: Watched several episodes of Scrubs from the 4th Season DVD that Mother bought for me as an early birthday present. Yay!

Friday:
10:00 AM: Roll out of bed, do the whole "social thing," and eat just enough breakfast to stop my stomach from growling so I can gorge myself on leftovers when lunch rolls around.

11:30 AM: Lunch rolled around. I gorged myself on leftovers.

2:00 PM: Said my good-byes, then Mother took me to the airport. She started to get misty, then told me that she was glad that I was still her same Andrew. She was afraid these few months at Harvard would have changed me. Oh, Mother. . . big hugs, then I was off.

10:00 PM: Ah, home, sweet home. I really do think of my Cambridge apartment as home now. It's cute and cozy. Just like me. I stayed up doing some research for job applications, watch a few more episodes of Scrubs, then called it a night.