The Best Day of My Life
by oldgrump
Copyright© 2018 by oldgrump
Flash Story: A Thanksgiving Story
Tags: Fiction
A quick Thanksgiving Story
Thanks to George5 for the editing. As always all mistakes are mine alone
It was a strange day; it was a day that I would never forget. In some ways, it was the worst day of my life, but it was a day I am glad I lived.
The day, Thanksgiving Day was supposed to be gathering of family. It didn’t work out that way. First, the turkey that had been in the freezer for a week and then in the fridge for two days did not smell right when I took it out of the fridge. Then when I went to the 24-hour grocery for a pre-cooked ham, my car got a flat, and the spare was also flat. Then AAA said that someone would be there in 2 hours – 2 hours! When I called my wife to tell her, she screamed that it was my fault. The car got fixed, and I got the ham, it was the last they had, and it was probably 3 times the size we would need.
I got it home, got an apology, and a kiss. I put the ham in the oven to warm through. Then my parents called and said they had to cancel. That left me to deal with ‘The In-Laws From Hell’ alone. They liked my parents, me not at all. Even my wife realized that her parents were unreasonably unjust about me.
They had tried to set up Sarah with her dad’s partner’s son; and when Sarah slapped the crap out of the kid when he got handsy, they had a big blow up and then she met me.
Now before we go too far, I am Chuck Alanson. I am 32; I am a former stockbroker who has become a Certified Financial Planner. I handle a select few clients, what most people would call ‘Trust Fund Babies’. I make a high six-figure income. I also day trade, and I have been very successful at it. I have been married to Sarah for nine years, and we have two great kids. Jack our son (named after my Father-in-law) is 6 and Sara our daughter is 3. All of this is not good enough.
It doesn’t help that the handsy bastard was caught raping a 13-year-old girl and the partner sold his part of the business to finance the son’s defense. The new partner then sold his share to a big conglomerate. Sarah’s father was forced to sell to the same group and had to retire long before he wanted to. Never mind that he made more money from the sale that he can ever spend, it was like a child died.
Well, the day just got immensely worse. The stove stopped working and when we called the in-laws they blamed it all on me and caused Sarah to break down and run into the bedroom crying. I grabbed the phone and told the jerks that as far as I was concerned they would never again get another invite to our house. I considered them persona-non-grata in my presence. I told them that if Sarah wanted to visit them she would be on her own, I would not allow the kids near them.
Then I hung up and went to comfort Sarah. Little Sara was in there already, so I called Jack and we jam piled on the bed in a group hug and kiss fest. Sarah even smiled and said that that was what we should consider the group as the real Thanksgiving. ‘The Four Torrances’; us against the world.
Sarah got up, sliced up the ham, heated some in the microwave, and made instant potatoes and canned gravy. We had a great family Thanksgiving.
That was the good and bad, we discovered the true meaning of Thanksgiving.
This story came out of my muse way different then I had planned. It does speak to my feelings for family. It also speaks to my feelings toward people who are nose in the air snobs.
If this story makes anyone think of the joy of family, then my job is done here.
By the way, both sets of my real-life in-laws were wonderful people, and they treated me just like I deserved to be, as part of an extended family. I lost my first wife’s father in 1978 when he had a massive heart attack at 53. Then I lost my first wife in 1988 also to a heart problem. My second wife and I have been married for over 27 years, and unfortunately her parents are now gone. They were great, and we now live in a house they left us.
Thanksgiving is not just time for a feast; it is a time for giving thanks to whatever deity you want, or to the people who mean the most to you if you don’t believe.
Happy Thanksgiving
The Old Grump.
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