A Thanksgiving to remember

I'm a romantic at heart. I believe in true love, princes, fairytale endings and dreams come true. It's a sickness, I know, and it leads to a lot of disappointment in life and the people around me, but it's just the way I am. In the same way I just knew there was some sort of God or spirit that powers the universe, I've always known that sometimes you can get that movie ending, if only for a little while.

Thanksgiving 2006 was one of those times. In the spring of 2006 I had a beautiful wedding that came off without (almost) any hitches. A fantastic honeymoon (actually we were greedy and took two) had followed in the spring and summer and I had convinced the somewhat reluctant husband to allow me to start trying for a baby. The payoff was instant for him of course, so the whining and wheedling didn't have to go on for too long. But he wasn't quite ready to be starting a family while I knew my time was running out somehow, so it was nice that I prevailed. Even though, by Thanksgiving, we had been trying for 5 months, it wasn't foremost on my mind and I hadn't given up yet.

So we approach our first Thanksgiving together as a married couple, in our new home that was perfect for family life. We had invited our friends over for the meal as I found I loved cooking for a crowd and had done so for the last couple of Thanksgivings already. That morning as I was prepping in my kitchen, chopping vegetables and cleaning potatoes while listening to my ipod, a certain song came on.

"At last........my loooove...has come along...."

You know the one. "My lonely days are over and life is like a song" and all that. (and if you're truly clueless, go listen here, it's a classic)

A great song. A fantastic song for a sappy romantic spending her first Thanksgiving married and possibly pregnant (because when you're trying aren't you always possibly pregnant?) in a beautiful home with the prospect of friends coming from miles around to eat a great meal I prepared like a mommy already taking care of her family. Oh I was a mess. I played that song about 15 times, singing at the top of my lungs while tears trickled down my cheeks with happiness.

Disgusting, no?

On that day nothing could go wrong, even though half the guests didn't show (for apparently valid reasons later) and I think I had some other issues with cat hair being all over the outfit I had picked out to change into for the meal so I didn't feel all perfect homemaker like I'd dreamed. But overall? The best Thanksgiving ever. This romantic idealist had it all for a moment in time.

Sometimes, fairytales do come true, even if just for a little while.

This post prompted by Mama Kat's weekly assignment. Go check out everyone else's!