Outrageous Thoughts of Babble
by Peter Knight
11.29.98 ThanksgivingIn a span of one week, our household has been equipped with Cable television, an Ethernet access line to the Internet, and a new smash hit Nintendo 64 game called Zelda. Needless to say, I have been slightly busy <smile again>.
Nonetheless, all this fun had come right before Thanksgiving, and painless as it was, it was time to shower, shave, and leave the house – outward to celebrate the holiday with family. So onward, down to New York City, Liz and I traveled on our uncyberspace tour.
Thanksgiving this year was going to be different. My parents were out of town – they have taken a winter hiatus to China to visit relatives and friends. And, a two-day visit to New Orleans to visit Liz’s family did not seem all that affordable. A month earlier, my sister had called and asked if we wanted to spend Thanksgiving with her and her husband. Of course, that sounded nice.
Shirley and Mike.
They have been married now for about two years. They met about twenty years ago, and started dating then, but somewhere in the middle of all that, they led separate lives. But, it does have a happy ending where they were reunited about four years ago, and then, tied the knot, and lived happily ever after. Well, there is a little catch in there – my father, although the loving man that he is, is not all that pleased with all that has come to be. I guess he feels that his baby girl was hurt many years ago, and he himself has become slightly more protective. Although, it has been a while, and my father has many redeeming qualities – he can hold onto a grudge forever. That is what we get for being brought up in a quasi-italian-jewish-Brooklyn neighborhood.
In conclusion, family events ever since have become somewhat lacking to a degree. And, having everyone in one place together is something that I miss greatly. Hopefully, in time… who knows.
This year, Liz and I were to spend Thanksgiving with sister and brother-in-law. In addition to not ever having spent holidays with them, we do not get to spend a lot of regular time with them. One reason is due to the sporadic brief visits to New York City.
We showed up about three thirty in the afternoon. We hung around for a bit, ate shrimp and cookie appetizers and played with the cable television. Then, it was time for the traditional, Manhattan-style-lets-dine-over-in-that-restaurant, Thanksgiving dinner. My sister suggested a couple of places and we all settled on "The City Grill" located on Columbus between 72nd and 73rd Streets. We quickly put on our jackets and walked outward to the restaurant. We sat by the window under candlelight. Mike, Liz, and I ordered the traditional Thanksgiving turkey plate, and Shirley had fish. Shirley does not do Turkey. All went well and all tasted pretty good. Well, I liked it. I think Shirley liked it too, but I’m not too sure Mike and Liz liked theirs too much – they coincidentally, are also the "cooks" of the households, where the Knight siblings are probably prone toward ingesting things without much complaint. <yum>
It was nice.
We talked about living expenses in Manhattan among other things. Afterwards, Liz tells me that this girl on the next table was infatuatingly staring at me. She also noted that she was very pretty. Sometimes, I think that she throws these little she’s-cute-items out as bait to see if I bite. And, when I do, and sometimes I do, she yells out "A-ha!" but that is our little game – Cute, ain’t it?
A couple of days later, we all met again for brunch in Chelsea.
It was weird not to have the folks around for Thanksgiving, but at the same time, I feel that it brought me closer to my sister and her husband.