Centerpiece. Place settings. Tablecloth. Thanksgiving was days away, but everything had to be just right. This year the gang would be coming to my house\u2014my sisters, my brother, my nieces and nephews, my parents.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d been testing recipes for weeks and finally had the menu set. Tomorrow I\u2019d start my cooking. I was setting up little miniature pilgrims around the cranberry dish when the phone rang. It was Dad.<\/p>\n
\u201cChange of plans,\u201d he announced. \u201cYour mother and I are taking everyone to Shoney\u2019s for Thanksgiving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obviously I\u2019d been working too hard. I thought my dad said we were spending Thanksgiving at Shoney\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeven o\u2019clock reservation. You\u2019re going to love the place!\u201d<\/p>\n
I hung up stunned and mortified. I was going to spend Thanksgiving at Shoney\u2019s? Me, the woman with a collection of decorative gourds and multiple recipes for pumpkin pie. It was unthinkable!<\/p>\n
Mom and Dad never ate out much in the old days. But now that both of them were in declining health, cooking was difficult. Dad had been mentioning the local Shoney\u2019s a lot lately, and the people who worked there.<\/p>\n
\u201cOma called us at home last night,\u201d Dad reported one day. \u201cWhen your mom and I didn\u2019t show up for dinner she got worried.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho\u2019s Oma?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the waitresses,\u201d said Dad. \u201cI\u2019ve told you about her. She always saves potato soup for your mother when they\u2019re running low. She knows it\u2019s her favorite!\u201d<\/p>\n
She sounded like a nice lady. Just not nice enough that I wanted to spend Thanksgiving with her eating the pressed turkey and cardboard rolls that were sure to be on the menu.<\/p>\n
But Dad had his heart set. So there I was on Thanksgiving, climbing out of a car in the Shoney\u2019s parking lot. Mom and Dad aren\u2019t well<\/em>, I thought as we headed for the door. This might be our last Thanksgiving together\u2014and it\u2019s all wrong!<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cLook, there\u2019s our next-door neighbors!\u201d Mom said, waving to a couple across the parking lot.<\/p>\n Oh, no<\/em>, I thought, hiding behind Mom. What must they be thinking to see us? How I wished instead of my tasteful dress I\u2019d just worn a billboard declaring: I Offered to Cook Thanksgiving Dinner!<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what you\u2019re so worried about,\u201d Mom said, stepping aside so her friends could see me. \u201cThey\u2019re not cooking either.\u201d<\/p>\n Dad pushed open the door to the restaurant. Waitresses popped up like toast all around us, begging to be introduced.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a reservation for the big table in the back,\u201d Dad said when he\u2019d shown us all off. \u201cWith Sherry.\u201d<\/p>\n My cheeks burned as I followed Dad to the big table\u2014which was really three tables hastily pushed together. Dad looked so proud to have requested a special waitress for the evening. I just knew everyone was laughing at us.<\/p>\n Sherry, our waitress, arrived in uniform\u2014and a big blue badge that said \u201cHave Thanksgiving Dinner at Our Place.\u201d The minute she saw Mom she took it off and pinned it on her like a corsage. \u201cFor your badge collection,\u201d Sherry said.<\/p>\n \u201cRoberta, you remember Sherry?\u201d said Mom. \u201cYou two went to church together when you were kids.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNice to see you,\u201d I mumbled, wanting to run and hide.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s all hit the buffet,\u201d said Dad. With a snap of his suspenders he led the way to the long table festooned with cardboard turkeys and streamers. A waitress patted his silver head as she went past. \u201cYou\u2019re looking so much better these days,\u201d she said. \u201cKeep holding onto God.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIsn\u2019t she something?\u201d Mom whispered. \u201cAnd she\u2019s not putting on for strangers either.\u201d<\/p>\n I got to the buffet just as another diner scooped a mound of mashed potatoes on Dad\u2019s plate. \u201cCan\u2019t have you wasting away,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n I studied them critically. I\u2019m sure they\u2019re nowhere as good as Mom\u2019s oyster dressing, which we\u2019d be eating now if we were at home<\/em>, I thought. I put some mashed potatoes on my plate anyway, then added some steamed veggies. I was surprised to see that the turkey legs looked juicy and tender. I took two.<\/p>\n Dad\u2019s thunderous laughter filled the room. He and another diner were holding up the chow line telling jokes. Back at our table, Dad retold his famous yarn about the time he was playing his fiddle at a flea market and wound up on national television.<\/p>\n \u201cI convinced that reporter the fiddle was the star of the whole bluegrass band,\u201d he said. \u201cThey set the cameras right up in front of me!\u201d Dad slapped the table with his hand.<\/p>\n People at other tables had turned around to listen. Now they were laughing too! Well, I didn\u2019t see anything to laugh about. When Sherry returned to fill our water glasses, I kept my eyes on my plate.<\/p>\n \u201cHey, Tinsel Teeth,\u201d Sherry said, motioning to my sister Rachael. \u201cRemember when I had braces when I was a kid? You wanted them so bad you came to Sunday school with tinfoil on your teeth.\u201d<\/p>\n A lady at the next table burst out laughing. So did Rachael\u2019s two children. \u201cTell us more funny stories about when you were little, Mom!\u201d one of them begged.<\/p>\n Rachael looked at me, a glint of mischief in her eye.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce your aunt Roberta spent a week sewing a green kettle cloth dress with these darling leg-of-mutton sleeves to wear in the youth choir concert. I was so jealous of that dress. So when she was drying her hair for church I snatched it myself and wore it to the concert.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou hadn\u2019t counted on those sleeves just being basted in, though!\u201d I shot back. \u201cThey popped loose before you got off that platform.\u201d<\/p>\n Rachael and I both burst into giggles. It felt good to laugh, like I was letting out all the tension I\u2019d been feeling since Dad changed our Thanksgiving plans. Maybe we were being a little loud, but the memory of Rachael in those green mutton sleeves was too much.<\/p>\n \u201cMy favorite Thanksgiving before this one,\u201d my nephew said, \u201cwas the year Aunt Roberta forgot to take out the little bag of turkey parts before she cooked the bird.\u201d I\u2019d nearly died of embarrassment when that happened. Now it just seemed hilarious.<\/p>\n Soon the table was overflowing with funny memories\u2014and desserts. Everyone told a story, each one overlapping and inspiring another. By the time Sherry returned to the table with our bill I\u2019d forgotten we weren\u2019t all back home around the table.<\/p>\n I put on my coat feeling silly\u2014not for being at Shoney\u2019s, but for taking so long to enjoy myself. I looked at Mom, with her big blue badge, and Sherry, the waitress who\u2019d really helped make our Thanksgiving one to remember. If there was an angel at Shoney\u2019s, she was it.<\/p>\n As we got up to leave, the lady at the next table tapped me on the shoulder. \u201cThis is my first Thanksgiving away from home,\u201d she confessed. \u201cI wondered how I\u2019d ever get through it. But having you all here was like being with my family.\u201d<\/p>\n I smiled. I actually felt thankful for our change of plans. \u201cDad,\u201d I said, \u201cwe just might have to make this place a tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n