Thanksgiving

(I write this especially for those of you who are not with your family today.)

“Final call for the 9:50 train to Poughkeepsie. Alright folks, this is going to be a crowded train, so please, make space on the seats. Use the overhead racks for the bags.”

I pick up the sweet potato casserole and place it on my lap to make room for someone to sit beside Laurence and me. It’s quite unusual to see this train, pulling away from Grand Central, so full. A dozen people walk past, looking for an empty seat. Many more people will board the train when we reach the next stop in Harlem.

After Harlem, the train will curve over to roll along the Hudson – that most beautiful of rivers – for many miles until we reach the last stop in Poughkeepsie. The same architect who designed Grand Central designed the Poughkeepsie station, and it too is grand.

We anticipate the blessing today of food and fellowship with the Akinyombo (Daramola) family. Many of our holidays have been spent away from family (a stranger plops himself down beside me), and I long ago quit crying that we weren’t going home to Kansas for the holidays. I am grateful for family and for all the childhood memories of being with the cousins at Grandpa and Grandma’s. However, the photographs in my mind of outstanding holiday (I use holiday in this post because the same goes for Christmas.) memories are of those spent here.

I remember Josh Schmidt standing on chairs (the stage) with the little neighbor girl singing some childish school song. (The fall foliage on the hills across the way is amazing.) For years, Russian Alex with his Colombian wife joined us for dinner at the mission. Alex was gruff and might have missed a button on his shirt while his wife would be dressed to the nines. I remember hiking the Aquaduct Trail, just Laurence and me, one Thanksgiving. I recall another Thanksgiving in Reuben Akinyombo’s apartment before they bought a house, and how we had a large array of both Nigerian and American foods.

The chatter of well-dressed people fills the train. The lady in the next seat up videos the scene of the river, the trees, and the cliffs. The overhead racks carry luggage and hikers’ backpacks.

God bless you today wherever you are, whatever you are doing. (What are you doing? What are your NYC Thanksgiving memories?) Happy Thanksgiving. We love you! Laurence and Berniece