Thanksgiving in Salem - VA, not MA

The Milan family "adopted" me three years ago when they invited me to their family Easter dinner. Some years before they started having their Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter dinners in the community hall of our Church. And they invited a few lucky friends to join them. I had a wonderful time, met many Milan's that I had not met before, enjoyed the food, the games and the conversation.

The following year they decided to do Easter at Nancy and Barry Trent's home. I hesitated to go. It just seemed less appropriate to crash a family party at someone's home than it did in the Church Hall. But two different Milan's invited me, so I went. I had even more fun than the first time. I sent Nancy a thank you note. She replied that the thought was very sweet and appreciated, but for future reference, family did NOT send thank you notes to family for family gatherings. I'll not miss a Milan gathering of any kind when I'm in Salem !

This year was great, as always. Wonderful dinner, fun games and lively conversations. I sat for dinner with Rick Milan and his two daughters, Laura and Emily, and his son, Kerry. We then retired to a side room where Rick taught us all that you should never play Blogger with the guy that brought the game. I won't embarrass us patsies with the scores. But Rick's score had more digits than anyone else's.

The "Emily" is the young lady I introduced to you in my October 10 blog as "Another 13 yr old that I've known from Church since she was 2 or so..." An incredible young lady. When I went back to find the date, I re-read what she had said the day before..."even school's been great - you know that warm feeling that you get when you're spending the day with friends, all laughing, smiling, joking, and you suddenly really appreciate life and your spirits rise to the point that you could almost start crying from joy? I have experienced that at least five times every day for the past, I dunno, two weeks or so. It's been wonderful."

Can you see why I love to talk with her? We weren't able to get together before this dinner. So it was great to catch up on her school, orchestra, and acting news.

Here are some pictures

Some of the kids



Food Line



Nancy and Barry with their son, Will



Emily's family plus Laura's boyfriend, Nathanial

left to right, Kerry, Nathanial, Laura, Rick, Emily



Emily and me



So much to be thankful for on such an appropriate day !

The Monday after Thanksgiving I drove to State College, PA to spend a few days with Thomas, Ann and the 3 Grandkids. Stay tuned - I WILL catch up and it will NOT be a month between posts again.