The busiest travel day of the year

I have only flown on today, the day before Thanksgiving, once, as cruel Final Review scheduling or, more recently, prohibitive flight costs, have kept us stationary for the holiday. I do not envy those of you travelling home. I vaguely remember a stifling bus ride with my suitcase on my lap, a living maze of stranded passengers lounging about on dirty terminal carpet, and an overtaxed ventilation system not quite able to keep up with the warmth and sweat of so many coat-clad people. I panicked when I saw the blinking departures list at La Guardia Airport, but a lucky break in my one-and-only, nearly-on-time West-bound flight prevented me from becoming what sat (a seat!) next to me: a young Minnesotan crying via telephone to her mother about her canceled flight and now-lost Thanksgiving dinner...

To celebrate our inertness, I’ve made cookies to inform my co-workers of the cause for celebration. I’m quite pleased with the substitution of Cadbury Buttons for Hershey’s kisses. We will also be joining other Americans this weekend for the real deal of turkey and pumpkin. We miss you, Feenstras and Wiersmas and Walls and Thieses. And our New York substitutes, the Bannons, we won’t forget you! One of these years Thanksgiving will again become a family holiday for us. Until then, we are thankful for the calm.