The Thanksgiving family reunion

Sawyer survived his longest road trip to date last weekend.

 

It’s kind of a long story how we ended up on this Thanksgiving jaunt to Atlanta, but the short version is this: Thanks to the power of the Internet, Ray reconnected with his aunt (his dad’s sister) this summer after 20+ years, and she invited us to Thanksgiving with the family. It took some effort, but attending this family reunion was really important to both of us.

So Sawyer got to travel to a new state (he’s got six under his belt now) and meet a dozen new family members.

 

We left for Atlanta (or "Lanta," as Sawyer’s been calling it for a week … he understands that AT is usually a preposition!) on Wednesday night after I worked a day shift. Thankfully, the paper has super early deadlines on Thanksgiving Eve, and I was able to go in even earlier and knock out some pages.

 

After a quick stop at Ray’s office and a return to the house to find my cellphone, we were off. We made it to first stoplight past our house (about three blocks) before Sawyer asked when we’d be there. He sang one of his Spanish counting songs about 15 times between home and Panera in Salisbury, where we stopped for a late dinner. The place was out of practically everything, but we got food in our bellies and got back on the road.

 

Sawyer fell asleep, and I tuned out Ray’s NPR with my iPod. We had to make a pit stop (for me) in Gastonia, and from then on Ray and I got started telling funny stories and sharing memories of previous Thanksgivings, most memorable … our first married one when we adopted our two cats.

 

We had planned to stop for the night just before reaching the Georgia line, but Ray was wide awake and decided to keep going. After a quick stop for gas and munchies and a call to the hotel to make sure they had room for us, we journeyed on, now with Sawyer awake. He was still pretty quiet in the backseat, but he started asking questions and noticing things as we got into the city.

 

By the time we pulled up at the hotel and got all our stuff inside, he was wide awake and raring to explore. We luckily had a two-room suite, so Sawyer got his “own room” and his “own bed” that we made disappear every morning (aka a pullout couch). I got him settled down with a couple books, and he finally fell back asleep.

 

Ray and I woke up the next morning to the sound of the sliding pocket doors being opened and closed. We tried to keep him occupied and avoid him breaking anything with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, in which he was completely uninterested (and frankly, I can’t blame him). After Ray delivered breakfast and Starbucks, Sawyer and I headed down to the indoor pool, one of the BIG draws for our hotel. Good thing it wasn’t the only draw.

 

It was about the size of our bathtub and had a tunnel to the outdoor pool, so a good half of the pool was quite refreshing cold. We swam a bit before crying uncle to the frigid water. By the time we got out and returned to our room, it was time to get ready for Thanksgiving.

 

We showered and got dressed up and headed over to Cousin Cathy’s house about 2 p.m. We walked in, and it was like we’d been there a dozen times. Sawyer was shy for about 90 seconds, but he totally warmed up to Ellie, who took him outside to play with her dog, Aurora. Ray and I needn’t have worried about how Sawyer would react to all these new people and an unusual space. He talked to, played with and wrestled with all the younger guests (Aunt Betsy’s grandkids) though he was at least 10 years younger than the youngest. And at one point, I saw him sitting on the lap of the oldest guest, Tommy Sr., and discussing how he'd lost the tips of his fingers in a saw accident. Sawyer had an audience, and he was in heaven. 


Harassing Eli and Maggie

 

His table manners weren’t great, but I managed to get him to eat enough that he wasn’t complaining of hunger. (All he really wanted was Cool Whip on a plate.) Ray and I had such a good time talking to all the adults (Ray’s four cousins, their spouses and his aunt) and the house was so cozy and full of great food and drinks that the time just flew by. The little Energizer Bunny made it until 10 p.m. when we said our goodbyes for the evening.

 

We attempted to sleep in the next morning. Sawyer woke up a bit later than usual, and after awhile we headed back over to Cathy’s to convoy to the GA Aquarium, where her daughter Connie works as a scuba diver. We ate sandwiches and divided up in cars for the trip downtown.

 

The group of 12 already had tickets in hand and got ushered through the special VIP entrance line, thanks to Connie.

The aquarium was PACKED. It wasn't like we had all week to hit the aquarium, but the day after Thanksgiving was probably not the optimum visiting time. At least if you want to actually SEE anything for more than 2 seconds. We did get to enjoy the glass tunnel and giant tank -- called the Ocean Voyager -- where giant sea creatures swam overhead. They have two whale sharks the size of school buses! Lots of sharks and other big fish. 







Sawyer's favorite was probably the crab spiders, which we only got to see for 20 seconds because the crowd was so huge. The family gathered for the Dolphin Tales show later that afternoon. It was sort of a Sea World-esqe performance where the dolphins do lots of jumps and tricks with the handlers. Except this one had singing, lights and a story. It was a like a dramatic musical/play with dolphins and water. (I whispered to Ray that you could tell times had changed ... when we were kids just seeing the dolphins do stunts was cool. We didn't have a performance to go with it.) Sawyer INSISTED on sitting with Ellie for this, so I couldn't see his face much but I think he was impressed. 

We made it back to the giant aqarium tank just in time to see the divers swim through, including cousin Connie. She swam over to the wall and found us, waving and signaling to Sawyer. It was very sweet. 









After the divers left, we dispersed and hit a few more exhibits before sitting down to eat a snack. (I thought Sawyer was on the verge of a meltdown if he didn't eat something.)

The family reconvened, and a few of us made runs through the gift shop. I had to buy our customary  Christmas ornament that marks a trip we took. And I found Sawyer the best stuffed river otter for his birthday!

We figured he'd crash in the car, but with Ellie beside him, he talked, sang and giggled all the way back to Cathy's house. Friday night was very low-key and fun. We all grazed on leftovers, watched football and the "children" (i.e. the grandkids and Sawyer) cut up and goofed off with each other. Sawyer was included in all their fun of giving backrubs and wrestling. 


Walking on each other's backs

Betsy explained who people were in the photo album created for Ray, and we opened a treasure trove of memorabilia and trinkets that had belonged to him or his father. She, Cathy and I sat for a long time and just talked about the family and how they grew up, how Betsy had found her birth mother and siblings. It was good stuff, especially since I had never gotten to meet any of the Burton side of Ray's family. 

We all lingered until midnight when we hugged everyone and said our thanks and goodbyes with promises to come back. 

It was one of the most enjoyable Thanksgivings ever. I think we both went into it expecting that it might be awkward to spend a holiday with people who were essentially strangers ... Ray having not seen any of them in 20 or more years and me having never met them. But it was just the opposite. I felt like I'd know them forever and left definitely wanting to spend more time with our Burton family.