It was a week ago last Wednesday that we spent Thanksgiving with Sue and Dick Rhone (darling Chris’s older sister and brother-in-law) at their house, and had Thanksgiving turkey with them, ‘and all the trimmings’, as the saying goes.

Absentees were Nichola, Jack and James, and Dale Burke (Sue and Dick’s eldest daughter, five-year-old great-grandson, a ‘twenty-something’ son by a previous encounter, and son-in-law), as it was their turn to spend the holiday with the Burke family.

The Salminens (he is the chiropractor) came up with their daughter, grand-daughter and son-in-law, the ‘name-giver’. Their son, home from college with his buddy (whose name I never did catch) and James was there also (part of my misunderstanding of whom were guests and whom were not), along with the fellow who helped me with my wheelchair (I am still plagued with Primary Lateral Sclerosis and can no longer walk or talk much). The wheelchair-helper was there with his wife, Jillian, and his 4-month-old son, Luke.

We had an absolutely ‘perfect’ dinner ; just the right amount of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, salads, onions, and Special Orange Salad (‘special’ because it was Grandma Rosakovia’s favorite and she had passed away just a year ago at age 93.)

It turned into a fabulous evening. Before a choice of pie—either pumpkin, macadamia nut or plain chocolate, mounted with festoons of whipped cream—we were mesmerized by Andrew Salminen’s piano playing until taken over by the hostess and her husband for Christmas Carols.

Sue has a habit of ‘pounding’ keys of the piano as if we all were deaf (or if she wished we were), and Dick has an equally bad habit of singing off-key.

I paid little attention to them. I had sat across from a truly astonishing young woman (of forty-six, forty-seven), whom I gathered from Thanksgiving-table conversation was single (her name was
Frances; I never learned her last name), and when she followed me into the living room, I decided to ‘put the moves’ on her.

Total waste of time. Took less than a minute to realize that even though I was pushing eighty-four, she had no interest in me. I quickly abandoned her.

(Vanderbilt University may have a ‘guitar-playing’ addendum that leads to a certain musical degree, but I doubt if they have a similar chiropractic course--in spite of their own show, Medical TV, which leads to a degree in medicine.)


Copyright©2014 by Robert A. Mills, all rights reserved, may not be published, nor re-written nor broadcast without the author’s permission