Janson/Russ Thanksgiving 2008
The oldest cousin was born
in 1952 so that marks the beginning of the cousins’ Thanksgivings. After a half-century of gravitating to
2002
2004
2006
2008
Shortly after the 2008
Thanksgiving, I wrote the following:
Some dates provide the
benchmarks of your life: The day you
were born, the day you were married, the day your cat dies.
The weather on
Thanksgiving Eve included a light snow.
I buried my 17-year companion in the backyard next to her brother and
got ready for the party.
My mom had arranged for us
to have the entire country club for dinner Thursday evening. Thursday afternoon would be spent with
football at Diana & David’s where Robin used her camera so skillfully.
Both of my mom’s brothers
were there.
The family reunion date we
use is even-numbered-year Thanksgivings.
As I would later say in my remarks to our group just before we ate, we
would have dinner that day whether others joined us or not. The whole significance of the event comes
from establishing a moment of reconnection.
Even my beautiful sister
Jenny I see only at Thanksgivings.
But it was not a respite
from the dead cats that haunt our lives.
The benchmarks of our lives are the context in which we live our
lives. Thanksgiving, 2008 was a brief
time that history can now record we were all under the same roof. Our lives intersected.
Mary Lou is my first
cousin. She was part of my childhood and
then she disappeared from my life for 40 years.
Over the last decade we have repeatedly intersected and something that
was missing has been restored.
I had just a brief moment
with each person. We can write and
exchange photos, but breathing the air of the same room is profoundly
different.
When I see these people
again, many things will have changed:
The economy, the war, the health of our cats. Still, I like to think that some things in
this world are constant.
I have probably never had
a conversation with Cousin Jennifer longer than a half-hour, nor have I had
more than two-hours total conversation time with her in any decade of my life,
but my maternal grandparents and her paternal grandparents are the same Wilford and Mary.
And now there is Cousin
Rich. I sat in the first pew at their
wedding and I saw his face as the priest spoke and I saw him humble himself
before God.
Jansons-by-marriage are still Jansons.
Thanksgiving fell on
November 27th this year. On
October 27th two United States Army sergeants walked into a police
station in northern
Robin got this picture of
me in Diana’s kitchen on Thanksgiving Day.
One of Sergeant Grieco’s friends used my camera three weeks earlier to take
this picture of me.
This is Cousin Ray in
Diana’s kitchen on Thanksgiving Day.
And this is Cousin Ray at
Sergeant Casey’s funeral 19 days earlier.
My cat’s name was
Nod. She and the two soldiers did not
see Thanksgiving this year. These are
some who did:
Some things should be
remembered.
Website that documents my
Patriot Guard experience: pgr.pxxq.com
The Patriot Guard mission
for the two sergeants: pgr.pxxq.com/canton2.htm
The picketers at the
corner of Whipple and Tusc: pgr.pxxq.com/canton2wbc.htm
People who waited near the
Other
Other pictures taken in
Diana’s kitchen: community.webshots.com/album/568985264DFVpOr
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