Edgar of all trades

Every year for Thanksgiving I can’t wait for the food. Particularly, my mom’s special stuffing and potato skins. Every year she is on the verge of not cooking anything. See, it is mighty hard work slaving all day in the kitchen with little to no help, but every year I, along with my sisters, manage to persuade her to cook for us.

Quite a lot goes into her stuffing, including ham, bacon, and frozen veggies. Her potato skins are creamy due to the potato filling, sour cream, and other items like more bacon, etc…

Aside from these two things, she usually cooks a turkey, which in my early years, would come out very dry. Sorry mom, but it is true! Not until one year when I gave her some basting suggestions like adding some butter under the skin and other such suggestions. Ever since then, the turkey has always come out moist and delicious.

This year it is different. This year, mom and my younger, of the two, sisters along with five other family members went to Mexico. They went to Mexico to accompany my grandfather’s body. He passed on November 12th at about 12:30pm.

This left dad, my sister Yesenia, and myself with a bit of a conundrum. A quandary, per say. I didn’t want to not celebrate Thanksgiving. I mean I am still very thankful for the full life my grandfather had among other things. Also, if we did not do anything, that would be kind of depressing. I decided I’d take care of dinner. So I placed an order with Boston Market for a holiday meal.

Serves 4-6 people, but we are just three. Let’s invite an uncle and cousin since the wife, mom’s sister, is also in Mexico! Then other cousins had nowhere to go with their families also in Mexico. Suddenly, we have a count of 12.

This Thanksgiving will definitely be different. My grandfather will not be there for one. His oxygen tank in the corner with a line to him. Walking from the living room to the kitchen and back whenever he got bored of the tv or the people. My mom or my sister Yoselin, or several aunts and cousins won’t be there. My mom’s cooking will definitely be missed. Sure, I could try to do the cooking myself, I mean I can probably almost repeat her recipes since I’ve seen her make it year after year. But, no. I won’t do her justice. Not yet at least.

Anyway, I leave you with this as you all {U.S. peeps} prepare for the day of thanks; Tell your loved ones you love them. Don’t wait. You never know when the last time you will see someone alive. I will never forget the last time I saw him conscious. He had fallen so we decided to take him to the emergency room just in case. I looked at him, right in the eyes as he was in the ambulance and as the doors closed. There was a calm sadness about him. Had I’d known that would be my last real opportunity, I would had told him one last time how much I loved him.

I do.

I love you grandpa.

Rest in peace, Jose Angel Ramos. 1931 - 2011

Short URL: http://is.gd/thanksgiving2011

“Well, birthdays are merely symbolic of how another year has gone by and how little we’ve grown. No matter how desperate we are that someday a better self will emerge, with each flicker of the candles on the cake, we know it’s not to be, that for the rest of our sad, wretched pathetic lives, this is who we areto the bitter end. Inevitably, irrevocably; happy birthday? No such thing.” – Jerry Seinfeld

I’d like to disprove Jerry this year. How better than to have a Karaoke Birthday Party! I’ve done this for a few years now, and it is SO MUCH FUN! Join me, on Saturday, April 10th from 7pm and on for some wacky fun. As one of my close friends called it, my “Dirty Thirty” is upon me… I aim to celebrate. I have so much to give thanks for, one of which is you. You, my friends. I thank that you are in my life, so come on out, bring your friends and let’s party it up!

I set up a Facebook Event, so friend me if you haven’t, or just comment here if you can make it. I’d like a head count, we MAY need more than one room… one year we bled out into the hallways of the establishment lol.

Lincoln Karaoke is an awesome place with PRIVATE ROOMS, so no need waiting for the “DJ” to “pull” your name, when they’re really just calling up their friends and best tippers. Located just south of Bryn Mawr on Lincoln Ave. Check them out here: http://www.lincolnkaraoke.com. There’s a full bar and an appetizer menu. Here’s a small set of pictures of my bday in 2008, it shows one of the rooms http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsutphin/sets/72157608769139593/

So please mark your calendars and bring your singing voices!

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln (Karaoke)