Sweet Potatoes of Hate
We made it across the perilous ocean and to the Big Island of Hawaii. I have to briefly write about our crazy Thanksgiving, even though I’m over it. Then I’ll get into our crazy plane trip here.
Crazy Thanksgiving:
My 22 year old cousin is dating a 35 year old guy that her parents don’t approve of. I’ve never met him so I can’t make any judgements on the situation. A week before Thanksgiving she called my mom asking if Bill could come to Thanksgiving dinner. My mom said it was fine as long as it was okay with her parents. Alex never asked her parents and didn’t mention that he was driving from Minneapolis to Chicago with her. As far as they knew, she and Bill were broken up. Alex was supposed to show up around six on Friday (our plans were to have Thanksgiving on Saturday), at ten she still hadn’t called. My mom and I knew what was up, but felt like we shouldn’t butt in. She finally called at ten and told her parents that she was bringing Bill. They went balistic, way over board and were rediculously dramatic. My aunt (her mom) was crying, my uncle (her dad) was really upset and kept asking Alex if she was getting married.
They got off the phone and broke out the scotch. The funniest part of this whole exchange was that the whole time the tv was on in the background. TNT was showing the movie Titanic. As this was all going on, the part where the ship is sinking and people are screaming and bodies are falling into the icy water was the backdrop to my uncle’s angry statements and my aunt’s hysterical sobs.
Alex came to the house. There was more serious discussion. My aunt said that she couldn’t stay for Thanksgiving and needed to go home to “feel safe”. They would be leaving in the morning. She didn’t want to drive back to Minneapolis with Alex to decorate her new apartment like they had planned. No one thought she was serious.
The next morning they got up insanely early, took the furniture that they had brought for Alex out of their car and put it in hers. My aunt said had to make the sweet potatoes and the stuffing before she left. We still thought she was bluffing and just wanted us to talk her out of leaving. She wasn’t. After she made the food she had promised to make, they got in the car to make the eight hour drive back to Cleveland.
A Thanksgiving of nine was now a Thanksgiving of seven. We were expecting my sister, her husband and my niece later in the day. My sister had a doctor’s appointment in regards to her difficult pregnancy and then they would come straight to the house. An hour after my aunt and uncle left we got a call from my sister that her doctor had sent her to the emergency room. She and the baby would be fine, but she had to go and get a shot to stop the labor that she had been in prematurely for weeks.
Now a Thanksgiving of nine was now a Thanksgiving of four, two of the four being vegetarians. After a few hours they released my sister on strict orders for bed rest. We packed up Thanksgiving dinner in boxes and made the hour drive to their house. The problem was my sister was still in pain and not able to eat and my brother-in-law and niece ate at the hospital. My mom made a turkey sandwich, I ate some mushrooms and cheese and crackers as we all sat around the kitchen table laughing and saying “Happy Thanksgiving”.
After a short while my sister was in so much pain that her husband took her back to the emergency room. She staying in the hospital for a few days. We watched Samantha my niece for a few hours until a neighbor came to pick her up.
Crazy Plane Trip:
Andy has been following the website hitch 50 since we heard about it on day four of their trip. My mom heard them mentioned on a radio station in Chicago and thought we would be interested. These two guys had a plan to visit 50 state capitals in 50 days with only the help of random real time and internet strangers. We emailed them a few times offering them a ride when they got around Nevada. When they came through they were going to take us up on it, but we had made the last minute plans to go to Chicago. We haven’t been able to check the site in a few days to see where they were or if they were able to make it to there last stop, Honolulu.
This morning we woke up at three thirty am and took a flight to LA. In LA we were hoping that no one would sit by us so we could stretch out, but at the last second a blond, short haired, girl with ripped jeans and a humorous smile sat down. She seemed nice and we started talking. A minute or so later a guy walked up and kissed her on the forehead. He had a blueish t-shirt on with “Scotty” in large, black helvetica letters on the front. I poked Andy, wide eyed and pointed saying, “No way”. Scotty and Fiddy were on the plane. He looked so tired, I don’t think he was really comprehending the scenario. I’m assuming he thought his girlfriend told us about their escapades and we were just saying hi. He left and we didn’t see him again. As tired as he looked, I’m surprised he was even upright for that long. We talked to Scotty’s girlfriend Teresa on and off for the whole five hour flight. They’re coming to Hilo, where we are, on the second and renting a big house until the ninth. We’re invited to stay if there’s room or camp in the back yard or hang out and drink macadamia nut liquor. What a bizarre set of circumstances!
On the big island
We connected with our host James last night, got a good nights sleep and just had breakfast. I wonder what the day will bring?
Tags: sweet potato, thanksgiving