LOVE

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving. For those of you who know how much I love fall, you'll also know how much I love Thanksgiving.

Growing up, Thanksgiving in our house was mostly a huge family jam. We usually wound up going to Galiano to my grandparent's house with the rest of the family. The cousins would spend the day playing croquet in my grandparents mushy back yard (the backyard of their (then) restaurant was always super swampy) and then we'd come in for a huge feast cooked by my cuisinely apt mother, uncles and or grandmother, usually opting for ham instead of the traditional turkey. In later years, as a teenager, we would end up in Oliver at my uncle's orchard. My two uncles had made some sort of deal in that one of them bought industrial apple juice making equipment which he traded unlimited use for unlimited apples and so it was a festival indeed. The most amazing apple juice is the apple juice you get when placing your glass beneath the spout of an industrial apple press. There was drinking, there was eating, there was laughing and lots of arguing (my family is never short on something to say to get someone going). Needless to say, our thanksgivings had everything a thanksgiving would require short of a cornucopia.

This year, my parents and I were going to Oliver and Tara was coming with us. It was going to be great. But then, one of Tara's staff contracted what could possibly be swine flu and so Tara had to cover and our plans were thwarted.

So she and I are on the coast.

It's beautiful.

We've been invited to Johanna's house for Turkey dinner. Friends were concerned I wouldn't be with family for the big day, but they don't understand the extent of my family.

I grew up in a very small very tight knit community and I've only just begun to realise how unique and unusual my upbringing was. Not just in the way my parents raised me (which in itself was something to write home about), but also in the "it takes a community to raise a child" attitude in my small seaside town.
My parents friends were not just "my parents friends", nor were their children "my parents friends kids".

They are my brothers, my sisters, my cousins, aunts and uncles.
They are my family.
We are old school creek (none of this new age trust fun hippy shit that seems to be happening in my beloved home town).

We stick together.

And it was because of this that I knew there would be no problem getting invited for turkey dinner tonight because there was no way any of them would let me be alone for Thanksgiving.
And this is what I'm thankful for this year. My family. They say blood is thicker than water, and although there is no blood here, there is something just as thick. My heart swells for all of you.

I love you all.

Thank you.