"Happy Thanksgiving"

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. Food, football, family, friends, and farfernugens. If you ask me at any other holiday however, I will inevitably give the same answer ("Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year. Gifts, God, good family, good friends, and goiters").

My family's tradition in the North East always included the early afternoon buffet, all day football, and the given of cold weather. When I moved to Southern California things changed. Drastically. After saving his life in Mexico, Bill's family was kind enough to take me in and California Thanksgiving traditions are a bit different. The cold November weather is about 70, the partaking in the delectable bird does not take place till late in the evening, and football does not exist because surfing is on TV. Let me repeat. Turkey is not served until the evening. That means when everyone in the country is eating at 1pm, we are watching "surfer dudes with attitudes" and starving. Yes I just referenced California Dreams.

This particular Thanksgiving as the day went on and our hunger increased, Mexico Bill and I agreed that something needed to be done. We snacked, raided the food closet, and even began eating the odd looking little cans of flavored applesauce we found. Of course we later found out that the mini applesauce cans were actually cans of baby food, but all the snacks and babyfood we could consume still didn't do it. We were starved. With the aroma of the wonderful sustenance cooking, filling the house, our malnourished state of mind got increasingly worse. Something had to be done. And babyfood was not going to do it this time.

Mexico Bill mentions that there's a place down the street that we can get a Thanksgiving meal, and that "we won't even have to pay for it!" Immediately I think we're going to have another near fatal coupon refusal on our hands until he assures me everything will be okay. That's when he tells me exactly what this place is.

A homeless shelter.

I guess it was a place where AA meetings took place as well as a place where anyone that didn't have any food could go and find nourishment. That was now us because we didn't have any food - and right then, we were hungry.

We show up and walk in like we own the place...or more like we didn't have any money to own any place, so we could get some free food. Within minutes we're stuffing our faces and enjoying the company. The conversations that took place where quite memorable to say the least. When asked about my "problem" I was confused and said "I don't have a problem." That's when everyone in the place gave me a pat on the shoulder and/or a hug.

I was then repeatedly told "It's okay" and the first step to recovery is "admitting I have a problem."

I then realized they thought I was an alcoholic. Or homeless. Or both.

I didn't have those problems but I was struggling pretty bad. My problem, was that I was hungry. Very hungry.

We then got all the food we could eat and everything was gravy. Pun intended.

It was a wonderful meal that wasn't surpassed...until later that evening at Bill's house for Thanksgiving meal number two. I didn't think the conversations with people of AA from earlier that day could be topped. That's when Mexico Bill's mother decided to make the dinner topic a very friendly conversation. Reminiscing about the time I came back from partying one night and after passing out at their house I woke up the next morning and casually made my way to the bathroom. That's when me and "Ma" bumped into each other in the hallway. It was no big deal until I looked down and realized something was missing.

Oh yeah, I was completely naked.

Can someone please pass the gravy?

Happy...

Thanksgiving

Mmmm...free turkey.

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