Remembering Dad

Remember the first Thanksgiving after Mom died and you and Ashley came to the tiny beach house Chris and I rented and we cooked a Thanksgiving meal for four? And you put a Cornish hen inside the turkey when I wasn’t looking and when you pulled the cooked turkey out of the oven and started pulling that stuffing out and said “Hey, what’s this?” just as I was standing beside you stirring the sweet tea. You pulled that little Cornish hen out of there on that black plastic spoon and said, “ It's a baby turkey.” I said “What? Woah, we got two for one, we got two for one!” I was so excited at the oddity! You were grinning great big and then you started laughing and then Ashley opened up the fridge and said “the turkey is what, Kelly?” as she pulled out an egg. “Preg-nant.” I realized then how stupid I’d been (blame it on lack of sleep) and Chris was recording the whole thing on his camera and I’d been fooled. I was so embarrassed. The four of us laughed so hard our eyes watered and bellies ached. You got me good, Dad. Thanks for making us laugh, even when I know you were aching for Mom so much. I know you’re pulling the same stunts up in Heaven. Love you.