A Word to the Wise About Thanksgiving

[Nomomo]

A word to the wise. Don't be foolish and put your loved ones at risk, or you may regret it.
I know of what I speak. My aunt died from catching Covid at a backyard barbecue with her son and his wife who didn't know yet that they were infected and transmitting the Covid Virus. They came down with symptoms and tested positive later, but by then it was too late and my aunt died within 2 weeks from that exposure.

[Some Schmo]

In the grand scheme of things, one Thanksgiving is nothing compared to yours, or your loved ones' lives. Yes, if you've been social distancing and isolating, you're lonely. We all are. It sucks, but one the bright side, the vaccines are coming soon, so just hold on a little longer.

[Jersey Girl]

I cancelled our family Thanksgiving about a week, week and a half ago. Now we're on lock down as of Friday. It's a touch sad for all of us but I know I made the right call.

One day isn't worth all of our future days.

[Jersey Girl]

In the grand scheme of things, one Thanksgiving is nothing compared to yours, or your loved ones' lives. Yes, if you've been social distancing and isolating, you're lonely. We all are. It sucks, but one the bright side, the vaccines are coming soon, so just hold on a little longer.

We all are...you said it, Schmo. Everyone is suffering and sacrificing to one degree or another. Not only have we had 4 years of political upheaval, we've got a good year's worth of pandemic fatigue on top of it. People are grieving for the loss of loved ones, jobs, and autonomy. I visualize us all running a marathon, so tired our legs are about to turn to jelly but...the finish line is in sight.

We have to keep going.

I've always thought Thanksgiving was kind of embarrassing. Like the whole country (and citizens abroad) basically all eating turkey on the same day like robots, stuffing ourselves silly at the same time. It's almost as bad as Valentine's Day. The only thing I like is having the family all together. That's going to have to wait. There is a lot of love and care behind these cancellations. But as the saying goes, love will find a way. I managed to drop off baked goods the past two days and we're turning the new tradition we started last year of having a gingerbread house building contest (everybody wins, by the way) into a virtual experience. Like I used to say in the classroom: some thing is better than no thing.

You do what you do, right? Suck it up and keep going, I say.

One good thing I have noticed in my own area with the loss of jobs and high needs, is that people are reaching out to others and sharing what they have. That sparks a feeling in me that is hard to describe, but it's real close to joy.