I’ve been scrolling through my digital photos and reminiscing about the the changing cast of characters, packed around our table on Thanksgivings past. Our usual dining room table, that is, augmented by one or two additional, impromptu addendums to accommodate the crowd. Everyone smiling over the “groaning board” of turkey, trimmings and potluck contributions.

For many years, we joined our friends Nancy and Steve and their family and friends in Upper Marlboro, Maryland for Thanksgiving. After they moved to Delaware we were still invited but decided it was just a bit too far to travel for the day. So we honored the “friends and family” tradition by hosting our own feast with anyone who wasn’t already committed elsewhere. Interns, far from home. People whose families lived too far away for just a long weekend visit. A cousin or two who live nearby.

This year many of us are paring and/or hunkering down, Zooming with family and friends, cooking alternative menus. We are going to make some Indian-inspired dishes and put the turkey off till next week, when we have finished quarantining from our daughter who is visiting from California, luckily for an extended stay through the remaining holidays.

It will be a memorable day and year, one way or the other. Hopefully the story we tell in the future will start like this: “Remember that one Thanksgiving when we all had to stay home because of the pandemic…”

Happy Thanksgiving, all!