Cunningham-Ramos AML & Stroke after TBI Journey

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! 

In the 48 years that I have lived in the U.S. I only missed 1 thanksgiving celebration in US Territory – when we were sailing around the Caribbean and celebrated it with several sailboats in the island of Jost Van Dyke. 

Since the very first thanksgiving I experienced, I always felt that this was the true American celebration and I have cherished this tradition since. Living with Kim, who very much enjoyed and appreciated wonderful meals and family gatherings just as I did, made it very enjoyable to plan and host Thanksgiving dinners at our home. We always had a full table of family and sometimes friends who had no family or preferred to share this special holiday with us. 

One tradition we created was to make a southern Thanksgiving dinner that appeared in the center foldout of the 2000 Gourmet Magazine. At the time, this popular magazine, which was cleverly placed alongside the check-out register counters in supermarkets and was still printed as a full magazine, inspired readers like me to want to create unforgettable meals. It had a variety of recipes for the same foods most households in America eat during thanksgiving but they were more involved, unusual to us, and tasty. 

We started by making the southern-spiced-style turkey and year-after-year we would ad one or two of the beautifully displayed recipes, until one year we made all of the recipes for a full southern experience.

After a few thanksgiving celebrations making this recipe, we finally figured out why our turkeys would come out of the oven raw & cold in the inside even after looking well-roasted and having been cooked for the recommended time.  We were not letting the turkey thaw out long enough! Even after we started buying supposedly ‘fresh, never-frozen’ turkeys, we still found down that their inside was really frozen. 

Eventually we memorized the menu that included esoteric & tasty recipes such a fried-salty sage leaves and southern pecan wild rice. What a feast we would have every Thanksgiving making this recipe! We miss this tradition. Kim asked me yesterday when we were going to buy the turkey after when I reminded him that thanksgiving was this week. I told him that we plan to celebrate it in his ‘hotel’, and we will.  

In this very special occasion, I’m very thankful for our family, our friends, you who read this blog and send me comforting & encouraging messages – they mean a lot to me! 

I’m also very thankful for the many Thanksgiving celebrations I had with Kim. He truly inspired me and worked side-by-side with me to make every one of our Thanksgiving celebration very special. My memories of this very special occasion would live with me forever. 

I hope that this holiday brings union & peace to your family & friends you share it with.