Ham Delivery

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, the first holiday since Steve died and I was planning on working through it alone. I was perfectly alright with this idea but family and friends were a bit concerned. It is sweet and comforting to me how much they care, and obviously they know what is best for me. I did concede, to their wishes and made plans to go to a friend’s house later in the day to celebrate with their family and have my plate of turkey. My heart really wasn't into it though. I was on the phone the whole morning with family wishing me a Happy Thanksgiving and I must confess, this did more harm than good for me. I began yearning for my family and I began to dwell on the fact that we were not together and that I would have to wait for ThanksChristmas. ThankChristmas was a holiday that we created to spend time together under one roof as a family to celebrate both Thanksgiving and Christmas in one weekend and it was still two weeks away.  Beside it was too late now to go to any of them so I trudged on in my miserable task of estate sale preparation.

My daughter called and texted me throughout the day, she was spending the day with her boyfriend. These plans had been set a long time ago and I knew that and was glad she had someone to be with that day. I know Mary would have come in to be with me if I had only asked, but I didn't want to ask, I wanted to be alone. During one of her phone calls she asked me if I had received a delivery that day and I told her no. No one works on Thanksgiving I said but she assured me she had ordered a ham online and it would be delivered on Thanksgiving. She asked what my plans for the day were and I told her I was leaving around 4:30 p.m. to go to my friends house. As our conversation wound down, she sounded a bit aggravated with the delivery not being here yet and was going to call the company because I needed it before 4:30 p.m.  She called me right back, saying they assured delivery by 4:00 p.m. or she would get her money back. So now I had something to look forward to, a ham for the weekend, since I knew she was planning to come in this weekend to help me. Who thinks to buy a ham for a gift? I suspect it was because she and I prefer ham over turkey any day and she knew she was coming in this weekend.

I continued my tedious task, but noticed I took more breaks than normal. My heart wasn't into it at all. I cried more, I suspect a bit of self pity tried to take root so I watched a movie on my computer. Mary continued to text me saying she loved me and would be coming early the next morning to be with me. She even told me my cooking was so much better than what she ate at her boyfriend’s house. What a sweet child, to lie to her mom to make her feel better. Her father taught her well. All this texting made me more aware that I really wanted someone with me today since it was not turning out to be the productive day I had hoped it would be. I was caving in to my loneliness and the next step was chocolate. I was going to make those darn brownies in the pantry if this kept up.

It was after three o'clock and I decided to get myself ready. I didn't cook the brownies, hurray for me. I cranked my music louder and that seemed to work. I was searching under my dresser for my other shoe when the doorbell rang. Ah, it must be the ham delivery person, I thought as I scrambled to put on my shoe and answer the door.  I opened the door and what to my tear weary eyes did appear the most adorable ham delivery person in the history of ham delivery people. Mary, my crazy, deceitful, sweet, adorable daughter stood in the doorway, with a ham in a grocery bag. She had pulled one over on me and I have never been so glad in my life. I burst into tears as we hugged because I needed her so badly and she delivered. I was overwhelmed that God brought us together in such a fun way. It was so nice to know she loved me so much that she would give up her plans because she knew I needed her.

We cooked the ham and had the best Thanksgiving dinner ever and I did cook the brownies too. This was a special occasion and we needed a dessert. Chocolate is good for everything in case you didn't know that. We watched two movies on my computer laying on my bed and just had a wonderful evening. We lay in bed talking then we did our Thank you prayers as the evening drew to a close and I had to go to sleep. It was a perfectly, lovely, emotional, wonderful day. If I could put any more descriptive words in that sentence I would have but I am afraid the grammar police already frown on me. I want to thank God for my beautiful ham delivery girl, and for knowing I needed my daughter yesterday to soothe my soul. I thank God also because she needed me yesterday too and we propped each other up.