I woke up a little early in anticipation of my first American Thanksgiving.
I didn’t know when it would start, or what would be involved. I was just waiting for a call from Thing 2 to tell me when to head to her house for the festivities. I was ready long before her call, and I was hoping that with that call would come her name. It would make things a lot easier for me.
But I got some quality painting of Christmas presents in while I watched a Burn Notice marathon. I like some of these new shows I am being exposed to.
At some point throughout the morning I started to feel sick. It was getting worse and worse as time passed. I thought about bailing on Thing 2, but when I mentioned to my mom that I might, she raised a valid point. There was no way Thing 2 would believe I was actually sick, and I didn’t want to insult her or her family.
I thought if I drank plenty of fluids and got some cold pills along the way I might be okay. I had some Kleenex with me, and before I set off for Raleigh I stopped at a gas station for supplies. I got some drugs and Vitamin Water, and then decided I should probably eat something so that I wouldn’t be ingesting the pills on an empty stomach.
They had cookies at the counter and so I bought one. It was the best gas station cookie I’ve ever had. When I started to think it was possibly the best cookie ever, I wondered if I had taken too many cold pills. Perhaps I was delusional from the drugs.
I was on my way. I had left the paper at home that had the address on it, but I thought I remembered what it was anyway, so I figured I could find my way. I punched in what I thought the address was to the GPS and made my way across a few highways to Raleigh. The drive was only about 40 minutes, but it felt longer, as I ran all of the horrible possibilities through my mind for how the night might go.
As it turns out, I did not remember the address correctly. I thought her house was number 3001, and there was no such number on her street. I was confident I had the street right, but didn’t know where I was going. I sent Thing 2 a text message and she called me to give me the right address. I wasn’t far, but I wasn’t in the right place.
I made it to her door and knocked. Thing 2 answered and gave me a quick tour of her place, introducing me to her mom and sister. They were all downstairs but she brought me upstairs and turned on the TV for me. Her sister joined us and started watching Legally Blonde 2. It wasn’t long before they all left me to watch by myself.
With all the fluids I’d had before my arrival, I needed to find a bathroom, but no one was around and I didn’t want to go snooping for one. I heard the front door open and shut a couple of times, but no one came upstairs so I couldn’t ask. Finally, her brother came up and introduced himself, but he didn’t stay long and I didn’t get a chance to find out where I could pee.
Eventually Thing 2’s sister came back and I asked her. That was a relief.
When I came out of the bathroom, Thing 2’s dad was upstairs. He gave me a hug and welcomed me into his home, which I thought was very nice of him. He mentioned Thing 2’s name, so that was also a relief. He told me that he had heard all about me, and I thought that was interesting because I didn’t know that Thing 2 knew anything about me, considering I didn’t even know her name coming in to the day.
After more Legally Blonde 2, Thing 2 came back upstairs and told me it was time to eat. I’m not sure how long I was watching the movie by myself, but it was enough to make me uncomfortable. I was much happier when she brought me downstairs to be around other people. But I had been getting pretty worried about dinner, because I was getting sicker by the minute. I kept taking cold pills in hopes that I might be able to breathe, but in the end I don’t think that was the best decision I could have made.
There was more food than I have ever seen at a family gathering. The turkey was huge and there were all kinds of side dishes. I didn’t know where to start, but the longer I stood there staring at the food the weirder I’m sure they thought I was. I got a plateful of food and sat down.
My time there was fun, but I couldn’t shake the sick feeling, so it definitely could have been better. I spent a lot of time talking to Thing 2’s brother and cousin, because they were the friendliest. We talked about sports and the schools here, and the schools in Canada, and what I’ve enjoyed about my time in North Carolina.
Everyone was very accepting of me, even though I stood out like a sore thumb. I was the only white person, and didn’t understand a word of what they were saying in their language. They were nice but I could tell that some people were wondering why I was there. I can only imagine what they were saying about me right in front of my face, and I couldn’t understand them at all.
After a few hours I decided I had to leave. My sickness was progressing and I needed to get home and rest. I tried to tell Thing 2 how thankful I was to her and her family for having me over, but I was leaving early and I can only hope they didn’t think it was because I was having a bad time. I told them I felt like I was getting sick and thought I should be resting.
I’m sure they could see I was sick, but earlier I had told them I thought I had allergies, because I was afraid they would think I was inconsiderate coming over with a cold to infect their family on Thanksgiving.
I headed home and decided that there is probably a limit to the number of cold pills one person should take before they drive, and I was probably near that limit. I made it and headed straight to bed.
My day was over before it began. But I had my first American Thanksgiving experience, and I would consider it mostly a success.
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