A Girl Named PJ

Welcome back! Happy Cyber Monday, friends! How was your Thanksgiving? Scrolling through my Instagram feed last Thursday, I gazed in awe at one beautiful Thanksgiving celebration after another. From dining room tables adorned with fresh flowers and foliage to perfectly prepared turkeys and homemade pies, it appeared many of you celebrated Thanksgiving in high style. Were your dinners as festive and delicious as they appeared?

I, on the other hand, enjoyed a plate of microwaved-warmed leftovers at my parents’ kitchen table after our guests went home.

But why don’t I start at the very beginning of my Thanksgiving saga?

Early Wednesday morning…

JB, Levi, my mom (who had been visiting), and I were scheduled to fly from Omaha to New Jersey shortly after 9am on Wednesday. The plan was to drop off the dog at the facility where we board him when they opened at 7am and then head straight to the airport. When we learned our flight was delayed 1.5 hours, we decided to follow the same timeframe just in case it miraculously left on time. However, Levi was still asleep at 6:45am (he hadn’t slept that long in days), so I left to quickly drop off the dog.

Briscoe and I arrived at the boarding facility at 7:05am. As I was filling out his paperwork, the woman behind the desk asked me for his updated vaccination record. “Umm, I don’t have one with me,” I replied nervously. “Didn’t the vet send it to you after his appointment this summer?”

“Yes,” she responded, “But he was due for his rabies and distemper vaccinations on October 26th.”

“That can’t be. They never sent me a reminder postcard!”

I called home in panic mode and told JB to find a vet that could give Briscoe his shots ASAP. They wouldn’t let me leave Briscoe, so we drove back home. Luckily, JB had managed to find a random veterinary office that could take Briscoe at 8:20am, which meant that we could still (most likely) make our 10:30am flight.

Being very picky about my dog’s medical care, we continued calling Briscoe’s vet’s number until somebody finally answered just before the office opened at 8am. JB explained the situation and was able to bring in Briscoe immediately. After returning to the boarding facility with a newly-vaccinated Briscoe’s and his updated medical records, JB returned home sans dog and we drove down to the airport at 9am.

Phew, crisis averted.

Thank goodness our flight had been delayed.

I had never been so grateful for a delayed flight…until we arrived at the airport. Our flight had now been pushed back to 1:05pm. So we left and went out to breakfast. When we returned at 11pm we waited…and waited…and waited. And while we waited, the tickle in my sinuses I felt early in the morning grew more and more irritating. I had my last two Dayquil pills to take just before we boarded but had I known we would ultimately have a six hour delay, I would’ve taken them at breakfast and bought more to take in the afternoon.

My nose was already starting to feel raw from blowing into so many tissues by the time we finally boarded at 2:40pm. My mom and I sat in the row with the extra air mask for Levi; JB had the two seats in front of us all to himself. We were going to switch seats during the flight so we’d each have some “alone time,” but (curiously) that never happened. Levi did manage to fall asleep on top of me for about an hour, so I was able to doze off for a bit, but by the time we landed, I felt–and looked–like shit. The cold hit me so hard I could barely enjoy our take-out Chinese food dinner, and I love New Jersey-style take-out Chinese food.

In the wee hours of Thanksgiving Day…

I woke up at 3am needing another dose of Sudafed and, unable to fall back to sleep, watched Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist until 5am. When my parents took a look at me after breakfast, with one eye nearly swollen shut and snot dripping from my nose, I was deemed unfit to participate in Thanksgiving for fear of getting my pregnant sister, my 97-year-old grandma or anybody else sick.

So I spent Thanksgiving Day in a college hoodie watching episodes of The Mindy Project on Hulu (ok, I’m a fan now!) and dozing in and out of sleep. And while I was banished to my room, I missed Levi being impossibly cute, crawling up the stairs and waving “bye-bye” through each baluster of the banister. I could hear the family screaming with laughter downstairs. It was heartbreaking to not be part of the festivities.

But worse than missing Levi being entertaining was missing a huge milestone. While JB was upstairs checking on me, Levi’s uncle was holding onto his hands to practice walking around the first floor. Spontaneously, my brother-in-law let go, and Levi continued to take another step or two! JB and I both missed Levi’s first unassisted steps! At first nobody wanted to tell us what happened, knowing I’d be so upset to have missed it, but it was so obvious they were hiding something. When I was finally able to get out of bed in the early evening, we re-enacted Levi’s first steps so I could record it on video. It was an exciting moment, for sure, but it just wasn’t the same for me.

A Thanksgiving I’ll never forget…

It was hardly an ideal Thanksgiving, but it certainly was memorable. Luckily, I felt markedly better by Friday and was well enough to go outlet shopping on Saturday. Of course, JB got hit by the cold midday on Sunday and by nighttime his eyes looked bloodshot and his nose was stuffed.

Le sigh. You know how Governor Christie rescheduled Halloween for New Jersey kids after Hurricane Sandy? I wonder if he could do the same for my family’s Thanksgiving. I would love a do-over!

{Instagram photos, left side: @casslavalle, @yestohoboken, @frolicblog, @jenpinkston}
{Instagram photos, right side: @coosandahhs, @caitlinflemming, @yestohoboken, @tracyshutterbean}