Monday, November 30, 2015

Preparing to Wait

The preparation of the Thanksgiving turkey and dressing (the Southern equivalent of stuffing, although not cooked inside the bird) has always been my job.  I use my grandmother’s recipe.  I generally do the shopping, too, and I do all the initial preparations the day before.  It makes the actual day of celebration much more relaxing to have those things out of the way.  I usually watch the parade.  Some years, I go.   
This year, though, I had been traveling a lot before Thanksgiving, including a weeklong trip just before, so I made all the preparations far in advance.  I had checked the cabinet to make sure all the required spices were on hand.  I placed a grocery order in advance so that all the necessary ingredients were delivered before I got home. 

I was not able to do all the prep work the day before because I did not actually arrive home the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day.  Not a problem, or it shouldn’t have been.  Our son Matthew had to work anyway, so we planned to celebrate the next day.  I still had Thanksgiving afternoon to do the prep work. 

What I did not count on was that New York City had decided to replace the water main that serves our apartment on Friday, which I had not known about until I got home.  That meant we were without water most of the day.  The last thing you want when cooking Thanksgiving dinner is a kitchen without water.  Still not a problem, I thought.  Matthew was also off on Saturday, so we just pushed everything back another day.

Wrong.  We had plans with old friends from out-of-town Friday night.  That was fun, but it meant that the prep work could not be done the day before.  The water hadn’t come back on in time to do it before we went out.  I certainly didn’t feel like doing it when we got home.  I go to bed at 9:00, after all.

That meant everything was left to do on Saturday. And by then, you know, Thanksgiving just felt done.  I was over it.  Matthew slept until noon.  I assumed he was over it, too.  Put the turkey in the freezer, I thought, and I’m ahead of the game for Christmas.  Ginger, who had gotten turkey when we went out to eat after Matthew got home on Thursday night agreed.

I explained my plan to Matthew when he got up.  I thought surely he would agree.  He did not.  “We’re just not going to do Thanksgiving this year,” I said.  “Why?” he asked.  I didn’t have a good answer, at least not one I was willing to say out loud.  So I started the prep work on Saturday afternoon.  No parade.  Just prep.  It was all sort of out of order in order to make the sequencing work.  There was nothing relaxing about it.

But by six, dinner was on the table.  Matthew was happy.  Ginger was happy.  And, though I’d had a grumpy afternoon, I was happy.  And thankful.  It’s good not to skip Thanksgiving. 

Advent began on Sunday.  It is the season of preparation.  A lot of the shopping got done over the weekend.  The tree is going to be delivered tomorrow (don’t tell the Advent police).  The family arrives in just a few weeks.  I will order another turkey.  By December 25, all the preparations will be complete.  I have carefully not scheduled any travel between now and the big day so that I might even have a moment to reflect and think and pray.  All of those things I can plan for.  I will be prepared, but I can’t make Christmas itself happen.  That is just out of my control. 

I can prepare but I can’t make the event itself happen.  As the New York City Water Department helped me learn this Thanksgiving, that is beyond my control.  All I can do is prepare.  And wait.  The rest is out of my hands.  Prepare as I might, when it comes down to it, my main job is to wait, to wait on God.

Waiting, of course, is the part I am particularly bad at, always have been.  I got tired of waiting on Thanksgiving this year and just decided to skip it.  I tried, but my son who has grown up with his dad cooking the Thanksgiving turkey every single year of his life wouldn’t let me get away with it.

Neither will God.  All we can do is wait.  All we really have to do is wait.  That’s what really needs preparing for.
Peace,

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