November 22, 2007

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2007

Happy Turkey Day...

Today I'm thankful for the fact that they don't do Thanksgiving in Costa Rica. Starting next year, if I want to make a turkey dinner, it'll be on my terms. No Black Friday. No pumpkin pie. No sweet potatoes with those nasty marshmallows on top. Who's idea was that anyway? It's disgusting. They're sweet potatoes, they don't need brown sugar, cinnamon and marshmallows!
One year, early in my marriage, when my mother-in-law still wasn't my biggest fan, my husband and I ate Thanksgiving dinner over her house. She insisted I eat the stuffing that came out of the turkey's butt. I didn't want to. But I was still trying to 'go along to get along', so I let her put a big glob on my plate and I ate it. She ate the stuffing she'd baked in a casserole dish. So did everyone else. On the drive home I started to perspire a bit and felt queasy and by the next morning, I had the worst case of food poisoning ever. Worse, even, than the pressed duck that I thought would kill me from a Chinese restaurant in Madrid. It was horrible. At one point, in between trips to the bathroom, I was lying on the bed writhing in pain and sweating, getting weaker by the moment and suddenly I knew I needed to dial 911. I was sure I was about to breathe my last. I reached for the phone and, shaking, dialed 9...then I think I blacked out. All I know is I woke up to the sound of Jerry Springer and the phone was on the floor and my head wasn't pounding any more. Tom has asked that I stop telling people she tried to kill me. I never did eat over there again.

26 days to go.....