My Trip Home - Day 5

This post is part of an ongoing tale of my trip back home to Mississippi to visit my family. To start the story at the beginning, begin reading from October 30, 2007.

When I'm in Germany it's simply not worth it to roast my own turkey. I can get one easily enough - little fat French turkeys, no less - but they're too big for B and I to consume on our own and no one else we know likes turkey. I don't have good oven roasted turkey until I venture back to Mississippi for a visit.

After church on Sunday we got our big ass turkey ready for the oven. Washed him and patted him dry and whispered to him how plump and lovely he was and then slathered him in a olive oil and basil based marinade. Sister and I skipped the stuffing. I'm not that crazy about it in the first place and there are other good things I'd rather eat instead. Family was expected over for supper around 5pm and while not every single person in town to whom I'm related was coming by, there was enough expected that I needed to snap a huge mess of green beans and bake a lemon and a chocolate pound cake.

And as if on cue, 5:00pm rolled around and everyone seemed to drive up at once. My brother and mother were there, Aunt Cora and my cousin Danny, my nephew, Tommy, his wife, her mother and their two girls, my niece, Misty, her husband and their two sons. Aunt Cora came bearing a big tray of brownies and her famous asparagus casserole. If she'd showed up without it I would have been convinced that the world was coming to an end because Aunt Cora makes asparagus casserole for every single occasion. Birthdays, holidays, family pot luck dinners - you name the event and the asparagus casserole will be there and it's been that way for the past fifty years. Aunt Cora has been making and bringing asparagus casserole for so long that no one bothers to get the recipe for their own because she'll always supply it for you. I don't even like asparagus but this casserole is fantastic and I'd cry tiny, bitter tears of disappointment if Aunt Cora didn't bring asparagus casserole.

Misty showed up bearing a fresh fruit tray and a bucket of pomegranate margaritas. I would have never thought that pomegranate margaritas would be tasty but damn if they weren't. Know what they're especially delicious with? Turkey and asparagus casserole. And they're really delicious with brownies stuffed with chopped pecans. By the time that supper was over I was stuffed and a little drunky-doo.

That evening was one of my favorites of my entire trip. Nothing especially exciting or noteworthy but I loved it all the same. I loved everyone passing in and out of the kitchen, the telling of funny family stories, everyone pitching in to get dinner on the table and cleaned up again. Hearing a great song on the radio and everyone dancing in the kitchen. The hugs given freely and easily. And the laughter. Oh we laughed ourselves until we'd gasp for air. We'd laugh until big, fat tears would roll down our cheeks and if someone came in the room while we were laughing and asked what it was all about we'd tell the tale again and the laughter would start up once more.

There's going to be a day when I've not seen my family in many months. Maybe even years. It's going to be a day when I'm very homesick and missing them all like crazy. That's the day when I'm going to remember back to this family dinner and I'm going to revel in how much I love my family.

Tomorrow: A Tuesday trip to Tupelo. Say that five times fast.