Thanksgiving Thankful

Our holiday was great. TR was a hit and we managed the passing around of her well. She didn't get passed from cousin to cousin until the part of the evening when folks said what they were grateful for. By then Mr A and I were able to make sure that crazy kid wasn't around to commit any acts of violence.

My family holidays are a gathering of my maternal great-grandfather Har.dy's offspring, other family and friends. Har.dy had 8 children. 3 of those children are still living. When all 8 were alive they would get together for the holidays, and once they had kids they still got together and once they had grandkids they still got together.

My paternal family is the same way, only most go to church together and see each other more often.

Our goddaughter seemed to have a goodtime. We kept warning her to watchout for the bad child. I was very worried about what they might do to the sweet little godchild until Mr A reminded me that she lived in the hood in L.A. That girl can handle herself.

It's always a risk when your family breaks out into the "what I am thankful for segment", you hope people aren't too long-winded, you hope no one gets overly mushy or cries (we have one drama queen and as expected she did cry in soap opera fashion) and you hope no one says anything nutty.

Well as we got towards the end of the cousins and I was feeling good about what a lovely family I have, my two nutty twin cousins reminded me that abberations do occur. The twins are my mothers first cousins and she has no idea where they came from. They look like their siblings but their behavior is quite different.

So the first twin stands and tells about how he has been celibate and drug free for 8 years and has X million dollars and can afford sex and drugs. He launches into a wild story that I've heard numerous times. We were in Aspen one year and he started telling Mr A the story and some sort of way Mr A managed to escape and I had to sit there and listen to this same story for probably the 3rd time. This is a story you really don't want to hear once on your life. At Thanksgiving, perhaps because he had an audience, he seemed to get a little raunchy with the story and said he'd been a 'sex freak', 'sexual freak'.

It was quite hillarious. As much as I run from conversations with these cousins, I'm still grateful for them. The sexual freak ccame to L.A. to visit TR when she was in the hospital, he's come to visit me the first time I lived in L.A and even though he is fearful of heights he walked up to my apartment that was perched on a steep hillside and had nearly one hundred steps. I had lovely views but a couple of people were afraid to make the hike and stayed in their car. The other twin has covered costs for family that might be financially prevented from attending family reunion dinners and events.

There is reason to be grateful for even your annoying and nutty cousins. Can't nobody love you and look out for you like a relative.