That time of year thou may'st in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang:
In me thou see'st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest:
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire
Consum'd with that which it was nourish’d by:
This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.
- William Shakespeare
Hope you weren't disappointed that the post title wasn't referring to Frank Sinatra singing the Christmas Waltz.
The brief Thanksgiving break was an full one. Begun with the joyous news that we could leave work early. The Thanksgiving feast was held in Pacifica at my grandparents, comme d'habitude. The three J's and Q spent the night with G at my grandparents, and my oldest cousin D and his family of +2 was there when we arrived. Little D is just about Q's age. We got along swimmingly. Soon after arrival I had a plastic 9 inch fishing pool in hand with a magnet at the end and was crawling around the house on my hands and knees racing cars. I obey instructions well. Thankful for all the ways the babes make family gatherings enjoyable.
Czech dumplings and sauerkraut, it's what's for dinner. Thankful my grandparents share a little bit of our heritage with us for the holidays. Also, thankful that, as they get older, they speak less and less in Czech to each other so we can't understand.
There is a house on a hill in Pacifica built to look like a castle, and as Q is completely in her princess fascination phase we took a walk after dinner to show her the castle. She and lil' J were sufficiently impressed. The walk culminated in a stirring round of ring-around-the-rosie at the top of the hill. Love love love my family.
Back to the poem....
The big news of the weekend was that Papa finally died Saturday morning. I'm thankful he isn't suffering from his cancer anymore, but it's been a little bit of a shock. Of course, being us, when my parents returned from the lake Sunday evening you would have found us employing our favorite coping mechanisms, wit and hilarity. Laughter is great medicine. I freak out slightly each time someone attempts to approach me with expressions of sympathy, need to work on that.
In a natural life twist, because this would of course happen, my father's uncle passed away the same day. My only recollection of him is a photo of him and his family at my baby christening. Wednesday will be spent driving down to the bay for Uncle L's funeral. It is also my parent's 31st anniversary, and G's 14th birthday - talk about a humdinger of a day.
I'm thankful for experiences that put life in perspective, make me think, appreciate how truly amazing my life is and the wonderful blessings I have. Including the heartlessly practical gratitude I have for the five days of funeral leave the State of California is kind enough to offer me.
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