TRADITION! and Traditions!!

TRADITION! and Traditions!!

It's the week after Thanksgiving!   What a great time to start my new blog!   I have so many things to be thankful for this year...family, friends, social groups, a great counselor and so much more!  Thanksgiving is definitely the start of the holiday traditions!

This year, for the first time, I was in Pittsburgh with Katie and Anthony for a twist on my Thanksgiving holiday.  It was just the three of us and we had decided on plenty of our holiday favorites and "lounge wear" also known as pajamas!   What a treat!   With my schedule the past couple of weeks, I knew that this could very easily be the best Thanksgiving ever!

It started on Wednesday with a relatively, uneventful drive to the 'burgh.   Traffic was thick but not really bad.   Once I arrived and unloaded the trunk full of "stuff," we had a lite dinner and Katie and I headed out to see Fiddler on the Roof as part of their Broadway series.    There was a long line, outside of the theater, for the new security measures (bag search and metal detectors) had just begun.   While standing in line, we heard a popping noise...much like caps, but the noise got our attention and when we looked towards the street, we saw a man, waving a gun (later we found out it was a BB gun), and shooting into the air.   The security guard ran from his post near us and tackled the guy.   Yes, it was a BB gun, and he was shooting it in the air and we were fairly certain it wasn't real, but it was startling to be right there...witnessing this.   Katie and I both looked at each other, relieved, but also wondering what we would have done...drop to the ground and lay on top of each other?  There was really no way to run or go inside for cover.   It was a little surreal.  

Then we got mad.   Here is a city that is still grieving, a play about the deeply rooted traditions of the Jewish faith, and this jackass had the nerve to choose the night before Thanksgiving to scare a crowd.   What is wrong with people?   It left us shaking our heads, and then Katie said, "It's only a matter of time, Mom."   Fortunately, he was arrested and we were able to go into the theater (walking 500 steps up to the top balcony by the way!) and enjoy the show.   But telling the story afterwards, it was not hard to think again, "what if?" 

Thanksgiving Day was exactly what we wanted...good food and drink, parade, Christmas movies, and lounge wear.   Friday, lazy day with a trip to the Frick Museum and Café for the evening's activities.   Again, good food and drink and a Christmas movie when we got home.

Saturday, it was time to leave.   I actually bragged about how cute I looked...black leggings, a new MND dri-fit shirt that was long enough to make my leggings look nice, and it was a comfy outfit for the drive home.  I had the "#grownasswoman look.  My load was much lighter as I was heading out to the car.  It was a dreary, rainy day, so of course, looking fine, I had to slip in the mud/black sludge at the curb, just inches away from my car.   Yep...I slipped and went down on my rump!  It's a visual I wish we would have captured on our phones because I cannot adequately describe what I looked like.  My whole right side, from my shoulder to my foot, was black-ish.  Seriously, it was not normal mud, but sludge like.  When I say covered, I mean COVERED!   I am fine!  Really, I have a bruised ego and a few achy spots, but I am fine, thankfully.   My favorite blue coat...ruined...thrown away but my undergarments, leggings and my shirt  have survived.  They were saved...after 3 washes!   To be honest, we could not stop laughing.   I was quite the site and I can only imagine what the neighbors must have thought.   I went back into the house to change clothes, and was on my way home.   I giggled a lot on the trip!

I loved spending time with my Katie, her husband, Anthony, and their dog Luna...well, maybe I'm still getting used to Luna.   Holiday traditions can change...it's okay.   We don't know what next year looks like, but I do know that as long as you are with loved ones, the tradition continues.  

From the TRADITIONS of Tevye in the Fiddler on the Roof to the traditions of our own, whatever they may be, I declare Thanksgiving 2018 a success.