Tough Thanksgiving Day Decisions

It's a conversation I've been trying to avoid for weeks. Deep in my heart, I knew it was going to be too risky to see my parents on Thanksgiving, but I couldn't bring myself to bring up the topic with them.

I've been waiting and hoping to see the surging COVID-19 numbers calm down, but that just hasn't happened, and I don't see it happening in the next seven days. With the recent 70 degree days, my Flutie Hail Mary was hoping Thanksgiving might be warm enough to eat outside, but I know that is beyond a long shot.

Every morning for the past week, Maddie has been asking me if I'd talked to my mom about it yet, but I hadn't. Finally, last night, after I was already sleeping, the levy broke. I got the following text from my mom:

The thought of only having Zoom/FaceTime interaction with my parents on Thanksgiving makes me upset. There's only been one other time that I didn't spend Thanksgiving with my family, and I vowed to never let that happen again. Unfortunately, the world had other plans.

There will be no silly Thanksgiving moments like the one pictured above when my niece wanted the family to sit underneath the table – just because she was two – and the whole family complied. No napping next to my dad as we watch the football game. None of that "I'm home" feeling that I still get to this day every time I'm under my parents' roof since the day I left for college.

The bottom line is that all things considered, for my family, it really is too risky to get together.  My parents are in their 70s. They're in pretty good health, but that's all the more reason that it's probably not worth the risk. No one knows what the future holds, but for us, it's probably best to remove the risk of a large gathering and start to look toward meeting up once my parents are vaccinated.

So a Zoom Thanksgiving it is. We can be thankful that Zoom is removing its 40-minute limit so that families can enjoy their Thanksgiving dinners together while separated. Happy 2020.