THANKSGIVING WEEK

[FAHQTOO]

I have some friends coming over tomorrow, but I don't have any family other than my husband and kids. They're either dead, drug addicts or live thousands of miles away. Kinda depressing.

I can imagine how much you miss your mom, sally. She sounds like such a character and so loved by her grandkids too (like mine). It's gotta be really hard on the holidays especially. If you weren't such a crabby bitch, I'd insert a warm fuzzy emoticon here, but you are so I won't.

The first two Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays without my dad were depressing. Actually, I was depressing; I brought the rest of my family down. I know it. They bounced back more quickly than I did, even though I'm the least emotional in the family. The next couple with my friends were less depressing because I didn't feel guilty for being a bit of a downer and more time had passed.

Alcohol helped a lot, too.

My first Thanksgiving without my dad sucked. He died a month before Thanksgiving and no one would sit in his chair at the end of the table. No one said anything either...nothing. We were all trying to choke back the lumps in our throats and I finally lost it and went running to the bathroom to bawl my eyes out. Christmas was somewhat better because the kids had us distracted with their new toys. Holidays were his favorite time of year and if we didn't show up for whatever reason, he was going to come get us, like it or not.
I remember my brother didn't show up one year because he was depressed and fucked up on crank. My dad went and got him. He's never did any drugs since then.