Some Random Thoughts (Gabrielle)
November 28, 2007 by Gabrielle
Some random thoughts from my latest trip to Erie-
My sisters can cook! For Thanksgiving we had a big family brunch at Adiel’s house. There was an enormous amount of really, really tasty food. There was this blueberry French toast casserole thing and then a fruit and yogurt trifle plus muffins, quiche, breads, sausages, spice cake and something more I’m sure. Mmm, it was good. Elizabeth made us lasagna with sausage, lots of cheese and more sausage. Actually, she made it about a week before we showed up and froze it so I had to watch it defrost before we could put it in the oven and then I had to smell it bake for over an hour. Mmmm, lasagna.
We had two Thanksgivings feasts in one day. There was the family brunch and then Elizabeth put on a traditional turkey meal Thursday evening. And even though I was confronted with two prime opportunities to overindulge I only ate until I was full. Both times. It was a beautiful thing. I could enjoy the post meal chatting and cleanup without feeling horrible. That was really nice.
Tom and Elizabeth were very careful to warn us that they have a cold house. They have an old, drafty house, they said, and it would probably be cold. So we were careful to pack warm clothes and were all prepared to be a little bit cold. Compared to our house their house is positively tropical. I was all prepared to be cold and I woke up overheating more than once.
Faith Reformed Church, of which my father is the pastor, is very quiet. I was sure Isaac was yelling his questions, but it turns out that everyone else was just being very quiet. Right before worship started it was almost silent. And then someone from our row would cough or wiggle or shout something incomprehensible. You could almost hear the silence crack and fall to the floor.
I have recently discovered that my family is not very, how shall I say, delicate in terms of what we think is appropriate to converse about in polite company. I’ve noticed this before, but just having more of us around made it painfully obvious. We had an entire conversation about bathroom euphemisms. And if you think about it bathroom in itself is a euphemism. You say ” I’m going to the bathroom”, but you make no mention of what you plan on doing in there. I mean, you could be going to change a light bulb for all we know. This conversation led to a new euphemism for the remainder of the trip. “Excuse me, I have to go change a light bulb.”
Finally, I realized that I like my family. We’re sinful and faulty and we’ve all got our issues, but I like us. I like us when we get together and just enjoy being around each other. We talk loudly and we laugh louder. We go to the beach and throw rocks at the waves simply because it’s fun. Seth pushes the children on the merry-go-round and then we eat pizza and laugh some more. It’s beautiful and I love it.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I hope yours was as pleasant and crazy as mine.
I like your family, too. And I think most families talk about “indelicate subjects” among themselves. I recall when I had asked my siblings for contributions to a “memory jar” for my father, a lot of our memories revolved around bathroom incidents.
Sweet! Now I can go around saying that Gaby has a potty mouth. ; -)
FWIW, I was sitting just about three rows in front of y’all, and I didn’t notice a thing. It’s not remarkable to me, a denizen of the “quiet” Faith Reformed,” when a large family of children is quiet, so I didn’t think twice about it, but if I had, I would have thought, “Wow, all those Ben-Ezra kids, and so quiet! Good job!”
Your own kids (or kids you feel directly responsible for) ALWAYS sound about ten times louder to you, than they do to everyone else. I’ll never forget the time when Anna was a very small baby, and Ray had taken her into the restroom at a restaurant to change her, and I heard her cry from the opposite end of the restaurant, and knew it was her. Freaky.
Speaking of childish bathroom humor, few people know that the Dunsworths actually have an eighth family member — a young lady named Anita Gopotty, who joined our family sometime around Anna’s second birthday. We used to hear so much about her, that we decided she was a member of the family, and sometimes instead of using the usual euphemisms, we talk about “going to see Anita.”
Heh. I was sitting in the same row, and I didn’t hear anything.
“Anita”
Heh.
Thanks so much for a big laugh on a busy afternoon, Jane. I am still smiling about that. It’ll be a story tonight at dinner.