Thanksgiving

 It is Thanksgiving night.  Thanksgiving has long been my favorite holiday.  

I am, as I have been since around 11 yesterday morning when I tested positive, self-isolating in the basement. My younger son and his husband, are self-isolating in the second and third bedrooms. My wife, who appears uninfected and tests negative, remains free to wander but is, nevertheless, effectively isolated from the rest of us. 

My older son and his wife flew in Tuesday for the holiday.  They left for a hotel last night and flew back home today.  My cousin, whom none of us have seen for three years, flew in yesterday morning and flew out again in the evening.  She never made it to the house.  (The first positive test came while she and I were standing by the carousel waiting for her luggage.) My sister-in-law and her husband are not, after all, driving in to spend tomorrow with us.

The turkey remains, as it has been, in the refrigerator, waiting to be cooked.  Perhaps on Saturday I'll have the energy.

This is not, as you probably gathered, the holiday we'd been looking forward to.  We'd imagined hours of good food and wine and talk.  We got zip.

And did I mention that two weeks ago we had the Kevorkian the veterinarian come to our home to send our beloved pooch to her eternal rest.  We have her ashes and a pawprint and a lock of her hair.  It's not the same thing.

And yet.

I expect to recover fully.  I began the Paxlovid regimen this morning; we've all been fully vaccinated and the younger isolatees are both otherwise strong and healthy.  And while the world may be going to hell (wars, earthquakes, mass shootings, climate change, the former guy), our little corners, our daily lives the lives of our friends and loved ones, remain largely unaffected.  It is, perhaps, selfish to be thankful at a time like this.  Yet I am.  We are.

Despite the death penalty and something of an upturn in killings over the last few weeks, Ohio has not executed anyone since July 2018, and while we've got folks with dates through 2026, it seems unlikely that we'll be back in the business anytime soon - if at all.  It appears that in this now pretty-clearly-red state there is bipartisan support for abolition.

In so many ways, it could be so much worse.

So yes, I'm thankful.  I got to spend a day with all the kids and an hour or so with my cousin.  I have friends and community and better health than I deserve even with Covid.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!