The beautiful memories that go along with being an adult are inspiring as a person grows older, especially when the family can no longer be together as it is now. Sure now with my brother and his family in Indiana and Spain, my sister in Bowling Green and her family in the southern part of the U.S., mom and dad no longer with us, and my daughter in DC with her family, most people would think I would be sad. But no. I like to think of all the Thanksgivings from the past on Big Creek Parkway and up in Bowling Green, Ohio when I was a child and when our kids were children.
I see my mother making her potato dressing for the turkey. We did not have bread dressing. My grandmother McCarthy taught her the recipe. Heavily spiced with sage, onions, and celery, the mashed potato combined with breadcrumbs and eggs would be one of my favorites. All the relatives would come and sit in the dining room, used only for occasions like this. My great aunt Anna Gaven was one of my favorite relatives. She was full of stories. I don’t know that I completely understood them, but I watched as everyone at the table would laugh as she told her tales. If we weren’t at our table, we went to my grandmother’s place. After the dinner, the adults would play cards. My aunts and uncles would tell stories about how they grew up and a few funny stories about each other. I found out one year about the expulsion of my dad from one high school in Cleveland because he and other boys strung piano wire across the men’s teacher lounge and one teacher lost his toupee. My dad went on to play football and baseball and graduate from Cleveland’s West Tech, so it must not have been too horrible a change. My dad glared at my Uncle Jim for that story that evening.
Later, we would go to my sister’s in Bowling Green. Again, we would all sit at her table and enjoy all the different side dishes of our childhood. She had cultivated the dressing ala mom’s style. The kids would argue, and we would remember when we did the same as children. One year both my husband and I were so stuffed, we were in pain as we drove back home to Columbus.
Now my husband and I try new restaurants and watch football, or see a movie. We’ll enjoy that dressing at Christmas as I take up the tradition of making the dressing for my family. Maybe we’ll play cards afterward dinner.