Thanksgiving 2021

Covid is keeping us from celebrating Thanksgiving over a dinner table, but my sister Betty and I can still walk in the woods. Here we are in North Vancouver during a late-afternoon family walk. Photo by John Denniston. 

During our walk, we came across an outdoor pen of guinea pigs, much to the delight of Betty's one-year-old grand-daughter Mia. A handful of dandelion leaves was worth a half-hour of enjoyment. Photo by John Denniston. 

A ferry ride away, my brother Brian was enjoying the sunshine on our Saltspring Island deck. 

 “Together apart” has been the Covid-19 motto for the past 18 months, and for us, it fit this year’s Thanksgiving perfectly.

My sister Betty and her husband Bert were in town from Quebec, helping their son and daughter-in-law transition their two kids into school and daycare. My brother Brian and his wife Wendy were driving through from Alberta, on their way to spending some time on Vancouver Island.

But did we gather the clan and have a big sit-down Thanksgiving dinner with the reunited siblings and Betty’s son and family? We did not.

Medical issues mean we’ve had to stay strict about Covid protocols, so our sibling reunion was masked and brief, one evening at an AirBnB. Then Brian and Wendy headed off to Saltspring to spend Thanksgiving at our cottage.  Betty and Bert and their son’s family had Thanksgiving dinner together; instead of joining them, John and I dropped by later for an afternoon walk.

But this happened too: Wendy sent us greetings and a photo of Brian enjoying the  sunshine on our island deck. John and I got to walk in the woods with Betty and Bert and catch up with their son Etienne and his wife Aya. We caught our first glimpse of six-year-old Emi and one-year-old Mia being sisters together. During our walk, we met a friendly cat and guinea pigs in an outdoor pen who needed to be fed dandelion leaves. And when we left, Aya handed us containers filled with the turkey dinners we hadn’t been able to share with the family.

Together apart indeed.

My niece Aya shared the bounty of her Thanksgiving table with these very generous take-home portions. We'll be celebrating Thanksgiving for a few days to come!