Flashback Friday

This picture is from is Thanksgiving 1999, which we spent in London. We have lots of great memories from that week, including two unrelated incidents which I shall refer to collectively as A Tale of Two Sweaters. One night we went to see Starlight Express and Mary left her adorable navy cardigan (above) in the theater; once we realized it was gone we went back to try to find it but the sweater was never to be found. (By itself a boring story, but wait - there's more! This was merely Mary's unfortunate theater story; there is a downright embarrassing theater story from another play we saw on that same trip when, after an on-stage death by stabbing, first-grade Mary blurted out loudly enough for many to hear, "That's gotta hurt!" Needless to say, we gave her grief for that for many years, but the good news is that she's kept her theater outbursts under check ever since.) As for the other sweater story ..... at dinner on a different night, John was wearing a white v-neck sweater (also above). At one point he had his arm extended a bit too close over a lit candle. The next thing we knew, the arm of his sweater was ..... on fire! Luckily we got it out quickly and without any injury to John, but it's still a story we like to tell. (John is not known for his speed, but that may have been the fastest that any of us has seen him move ..... before or since.) That was Thanksgiving 13 years ago ..... 13 years later we won't be in London (no surprise) and we also won't be together (again no surprise but I still wish it weren't so). Instead, John will be in Kentucky spending Thanksgiving with his girlfriend Troy and her family; Mary will be in Southern California spending the holiday with my parents as well as aunts, uncles, and cousins; and Peter will be here in Connecticut for Thanksgiving with the "original family." (No, I'm not being mean ..... that's what Peter jokingly calls it whenever he, Brad, and I are together.) My advice to the two children who won't be with us is: don't blurt out things at the dinner table (Mary), and stay away from open flames (John). Happy Thanksgiving everyone!