This Is What Thanksgiving Should Look Like

Goodness knows how much I love pookie. This man stresses me to no end, but I'd take a bullet for this asshole. However, one of my many gripes about him lies in the fact that I can say something to him like "you and I are invited to a friend's house for drinks this weekend" and he'll say okay, but when the time comes, he looks at me like I'm speaking Russian.
I've come to accept that this is just a part of him that I sometimes have to deal with. So despite the fact that we've been pretty pissed at one another for the last few weeks, I called him while he was on the road with his job to let him know that our friends were coming over for Thanksgiving dinner. He actually replied with "cool," as if he looked forward to seeing his homeboy. So imagine my surprise when the day before Turkey Day, he tells me he wants to wake early to go visit his parents. I reminded him that we were expecting guests so we were going to be expected to cook a meal. He looked at me and said "why didn't you tell me they were coming?" *sigh* So we went back and forth, and he relented, since he was in fact, happy to see his homeboy.
Long story short, our friends weren't able to make it, but my nephew was here, and it was pretty cool despite the changes. Pookie knocked out the turkey and sweet potatoes, while I cooked the string bean casserole, macaroni & cheese, and gravy & dressing. It wasn't too bad, if I do say so myself. I'm proud of the fact that only thing that was premade was the rolls and cranberry sauce. Other than that, we prepped and cooked it all ourselves.
That night we stopped by our friends' home, and Pookie and I were glad that the boy was socializing with their daughter. Pumpkin has been speech delayed and he's only recently been open to playing with other children, so we relish in watching him interact with other kids. For a minute he was so anti-social, I was starting to think that he took after my older sister. Then it was off to Pookie's mom's house and we had a pretty good time with her as Pookie and his brother trash talked one another (as all brothers do) and watched sports with my nephew.
Next was off to Pookie's dad's house. I didn't really know what to expect from the whole ordeal, but we really had a nice time. He and I were blessed enough to bury the hatchet after he dealt with a death in his family as I also dealt with the loss of my cousin. (On a side note, I sometimes think that the purpose of Jarronn's death in my life was to bring me closer to family. I've reached out to cousins far more than I ever did before and my sisters and I have buried the hatchet on all of our old issues). Anyway, we talked and I found myself thinking "man, I've had him pegged wrong, he's actually alright." He was hospitable to us and I really felt like I was with family. We asked him to cut my son's hair, which I learned is quite and ordeal. He joked about how ghetto is was to cut the boy's hair at the Thanksgiving table. My son screamed bloody murder and I actually fought back tears as my son appeared to be begging for his life. I'm thankful that it was done though, because he really needed it. He's two now, but that was only his third haircut in his life.
So anyway, I'm not sure if he still reads my blogs, but I hope he does. Because this year was was what a Thanksgiving was supposed to feel like. I love my family.