Thanksgiving evening 2006

Many weeks have past since I last wrote an entry on this blog. I've thought about writing now and then but school keeps me busy and I was a little tired of whining about life. A month ago, Dad and I spent our first Diwali without Mom. He made Gughras and we prayed at the temple together and met all the aunties and uncles in the community. It was as pleasant a Diwali as I could have hoped for without my mother. Now, fourish weeks later it's Thanksgiving. My mom and dad kind down scaled our thanksgiving celebrations last year as mom was recovering from having a pacemaker put in. So, this thanksgiving wasn't very different from the last in terms of our actual meal. Coming home was kind of normal. The minute I stepped in the house, I sat in front of the TV for a long time and the minute day light broke I had friends calling and friends coming over. My parents used to always refere to my coming home from college as "The horses have been let out of the stable." (its a saying in Gujarati "Ghoda chuthya") Yesterday evening, Dad and I were shopping when we ran into some very close family friends and surprisingly my dad refered to my coming home with the same phrase. He said, "The horse has been let out of captivity, it's like a tornado in my house." hehe.. I love it. My friends came over and like my mom would've , he asked each how their semester/work was going and got really excited and made them laugh.
Today, I made my favorite meal of all time - cabbage and peas nu shak. It was my favorite dish and my mom made it the best. I've been trying to reproduce it or have it reproduced by others since she passed away but it just hasnt satisfied me. Today, I really wanted to make it right and surprisingly I think it came very close to my mom's. So Dad and I had a great, very simple, thanksgiving night meal of simple indian roti and sabji. So life is moving...mom's still with us and its her spirit that keeps us going.
Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!