Thanksgiving

Ruth Anne and I celebrated 25 years this year. Our oldest daughter Anne got married and is having a baby. Elizabeth is in her Junior year at UT and planning to go on to graduate school. Eileen is in 2nd grade and performing well above average. My sister has reconnected with her high school sweet heart, moved to Alaska and plans to get married over New Years. My parents are healthy, Ruth Anne's parents are healthy. Many many things to be thankful for. With all of the hoopla though, this has been a stressful year. Thanksgiving plans were put off as we planned a wedding and the final result was the first family unit Thanksgiving in our 25 years together. What a wonderful day! The weather was perfect, I had a relaxing run through the neighborhood while Ruth Anne prepared the turkey. Once the turkey was in the oven we shared a walk with the Chiahuahua. With only 6 of us at the table, I carved the smallest turkey ever and we all fit at the dining table. The crash halfway through dinner was the cat knocking the Pecan Pie on the floor while going after the turkey carcass. We got to the pie before the dogs but they celebrated thanksgiving by licking up all of the scraps left on the floor. Sorry, no pictures Mike!

I am getting all of my runs in even though I am running much slower than I would like. I am at 40 miles and getting ready to go for 10 more in a few minutes. I think I will settle for 70ish this week. I have been getting a lot of runs in my neighborhood and have been concerned that I have not seen some of my regulars in a while. Jack On The Bike, Grand Canyon Man and Kitchen Timer Tom had not been seen in weeks. Yesterday though I saw Jack and said hi as he pedaled past me. Near the end of my run I caught Grand Canyon Man and stopped to walk with him for a while to get to know him. His Name is Larry (I'm glad this Larry doesn't run!) and he had a great time at the Grand Canyon. I asked what's next and he said Alaska! I told him my sister had just moved there and we talked about some of the great adventures to be had there. I can now call him Grand Canyon Larry.

Let's see, my regulars now include: Grand Canyon Larry, Jack On The Bike, Kitchen Timer Tom, Max Clean, Jennifer and Skip. I introduced myself to Tom Terkel(?) who was running in a pair of five fingers on Wednesday. Somehow I don't think he will be a regular though.

Well, gotta go RUN!