After thirty consecutive Thanksgivings with the Eisner family, the streak is over. A sore throat, a slight fever, and concern for my grandmothers have conspired to keep me here in Maryland, sick, alone, and without turkey. Feel free to shed a tear for me. I'll wait.
I've learned a few things from this experience, though. For example, in an empty house, a man can get some powerful good napping done. And did you know Bravo is hosting a Thanksgiving West Wing marathon? I finally saw the pilot episode, titled "Pilot". And now I get all those jokes about Sam and the prostitute. An odd thing about the first couple of WW's: they're scored like an early Spielberg movie. I half expected to see Elliot and his friends ride past the Oval Office on their bikes with E.T. in tow.
Around 7 PM I was getting pretty depressed, so I decided to make this a very special non-Thanksgiving by going out to eat. After driving around for a little while, I can report to you this short list of restaurants open tonight:
I opted for Bennigan's. I'm pretty sure Bennigan's is even worse than it used to be. For starters, I couldn't get turkey, so I had a traditional sirloin steak dinner. Not good. Kind of dry and gristly. It didn't help that the waiter delivered my salad 30 seconds before the main course, confiding, "Oops, I almost forgot this!" I guess it must suck working the Thanksgiving night shift at Bennigan's. Actually, it must suck working at Bennigan's, period.
The choice of music was a bit peculiar, too. It consisted, without exception, of 80's pop tunes, played too loudly. Hall & Oates, the Go Gos, whoever it was who did that Twilight Zone song. Crap, now I have to look it up . . . Oh, right, it was Rockwell.
I hope everyone else had a lovely dinner with family and friends. God bless us, each and every one.
Posted by cradle at November 27, 2003 11:46 PMYour sarcastic comments and unique insight on our immediate and extended families were sorely missed.
You might be satisfied to know that it was a relatively uneventful Thanksgiving. This exchange might also make you feel better:
Grandmom Goodman: How's my favorite grandson doing?
Me: What about David?
Grandmom Goodman: You're my favorite when David's not here.
Posted by: Dan at November 28, 2003 01:14 AMOh my God, that's the funniest thing I've heard
in awhile. It's good to be missed -- thanks.