♫ Now the party’s over
I’m so tired ♫
— “Avalon,” Roxy Music
Happy Thanksgiving, Americados!
Your infrequent Day Thread host has marked 51 late-November holidays, with today standing as only the second he will spend apart from at least some members of his immediate family. He endured his first solo Thanksgiving in 1992.
Twenty-eight years ago(!), a standup showcase(!!)1 in Louisville on the eve of the holiday made it impossible for Uvular to drive all the way back to Virginia Beach in time for dinner on Thursday. So, he split the difference on the distance and returned to his apartment in Blacksburg, where he then attended Virginia Tech.
Uvular, as some Avocadoians may recall, comes from a large family. Five siblings, several in-laws, numerous nephews and nieces, countless cousins, and so on and so forth. He reminds readers of this to wend to the actual anecdote.
*ahem*
Uvular arrived at his darkened, cold, empty, foodless apartment and flipped on the television to find nothing of interest but Barry Levinson’s third installment of the much-awarded director’s Baltimore cycle, Avalon.2
The movie tells the story of a large Jewish family whose members estrange over the course of a couple of years because, in part—get this—they find good and bad excuses to skip holiday gatherings. Good one, Universe. A kick to the nuts of the heart won’t play on AFV, but no one could miss the cosmic joke of force-feeding Uvular this story on that day under those circumstances.
Now, a pandemic rages. One hopes the damage done to family ties cut less deeply and scars less severely than plain old pigheadedness. Next year in, well, not Jerusalem unless you and yours usually get together there. But next year somewhere.
Stay safe. Eat well. Hug whoever you know you can hug safely. Count your blessings if you got ‘em. And wish me a happy birthday.3
♫ Keep smiling through
Just like you always do
‘Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds far away ♫
— “We’ll Meet Again,” Dame Vera Lynn