Thanksgiving with Ramseyes

I had promised to get boots for Ramseyes the next time I saw him, and this is it. I decide we should try to go today, hoping that the crowds will be thinner on Thanksgiving Day than on Black Friday. We head out. I am happy to discover that while there are some people shopping, the mostly the crowd consists of store employees setting out sales displays for tomorrow. Yeah!

We wander about and finally find the perfect boots for a rambunctious two year old. Mark wants to look at a few things, but Ramseyes is impatient. We suspect he may be thirsty, so I take his hand and the two of us venture off together in search of a drink. It occurs to me that this is really the first time we have been alone except for when he was a baby.

He looks up at me with trusting eyes as we wander farther from his parents. I wonder if he will get scared. But there are too many distractions. Displays of all kinds. Especially trucks. This young man is all boy. He makes truck sounds and reaches his hands out, asking to hold a bright yellow dump truck. How can a Grandma resist?

We did find a drink, but he wasn't too interested in it. People watch us walk past and I don't mind when they ask how old my grandson is. When Drew was little people used to ask me that, not realizing I was the Mom, not the Grandmom. But I was older when he was born, so I understood. This is different. I am happy to be the Grandmom.

I am still somewhat wobbly from the chemo, and soon I find I will either have to sit down somewhere or lean heavily on the cart. We put Ramseyes in and I push slowly, leaning and trying not to let my heavy breathing be heard. Soon we are headed home where Mark will cook our Thanksgiving dinner and hopefully the boys will finally be up.

Mark is a wonderful cook - one of those people who just knows how to make food taste extraordinary. I don't ask where the two pounds of butter went or what is in the gravy. I just eat. It is good. The company is good. And the Grandma and the two year old go to bed early while the big boys play. We can do the dishes tomorrow.