A Thanksgiving To Remember

The boys and I were remembering a thanksgiving we had with my dad a few years ago. Well, he passed away nearly 5 years ago, so it's been awhile, but it's one that we all remember vividly.

We had taken my dad out for Thanksgiving one year while visiting him in Indiana. He was in assisted living at the time. We took him to Cracker Barrel, and for Thanksgiving they had tables connected to other tables in an old fashioned family style dining. It was like sitting at extremely long picnic tables. This put my dad sitting in the midst of strangers, and at this time in his life, that wasn't good for anyone. Especially the strangers.

My dad had become extremely hard of hearing, which meant that not only did you have to yell to talk to him, but he yelled whenever he talked...and you just never knew what my dad would say. Actually, you were always a little afraid of what he might say. Something typical would be 'look at that man, my God, he's a big one'. That sort of thing, and it was never out of earshot of whom he was talking about. His eating habits were enough to make you lose your appetite. Unfortunately, this wasn't something that happened with old age, it was pretty much a constant for as long as I can remember. Hearing my mom say 'Forrest, wipe your mouth' was also a constant for as long as I can remember. After my mom died, for some reason, my dad took up chewing. Nastiest habit on the face of the earth, (okay, I can think of a few that may actually be nastier, but I don't let my mind go there). Sad thing is, he wasn't able to keep his 'chew' in his mouth either, so it was often hanging out of his mouth or off of his lip. So...imagine the blessing we were for the strangers who were seated around us this Thanksgiving.

However, this particular Thanksgiving my dad managed to pull a new surprise on all of us. Apparently he got something he was eating stuck in his teeth. This happens to everyone now and then, but my dad put a new spin on it. He took his teeth out at the table. In the middle of complete strangers, in the middle of a meal while everyone was still eating, he took his teeth out of his mouth, worked whatever it was that had lodged itself in his 'falsies' free, washed them off in his glass of water and then put them back into his mouth. Yes, yes he did. Everyone around us, including us, sat and stared at him as he did this while completely oblivious to anyone else at the table. One of the boys, can't remember which one, gasped "POP", but my dad, without a clue of having done anything wrong, just went back to his meal.

I suppose everyone has their little Thanksgiving stories to remember. Right?