November 26, 2005 at 9:58 PM

Another successful Thanksgiving is over. My husband and I celebrate the holiday every year with the two fraternity brothers he roomed with in college for four years. We rotate hosts every year, and this year was our year. I'm very grateful that we've been able to continue this tradition for ten years, despite all of us changing jobs, moving around the country, and (in our case) starting families. The huge Thanksgiving meal is not intimidating in the least anymore, and we've got it down to a craft, with the turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie as standbys and experimenting with side dishes a bit every year. And it's always a relief to me to have the "uncles" and occasionally a girlfriend with us, since they're so great with the kids. It was my younger daughter Kyla's first Thanksgiving, and she enjoyed the attention she often misses because her older sister is two and is constantly running around hollering.

Unfortunately, I have not done any violin practicing in the last few days. Partly because I haven't had much free time or energy with all the extra people in the house, and partly because I was a little bothered by the reminder of how poor my violin playing is. Both my husband's ex-roommates were accomplished violinists (playing Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole in high school, etc.), and I was always embarrassed in college that I'd taken lessons for longer than they had but was so inferior a player. I know now that it was largely because I had mediocre teachers, and I'm making tremendous progress now with my current, wonderful teacher, but I was depressed enough that I didn't feel like playing for a while. It wasn't the guys' fault in the least; they've largely given up violin, and they've never done anything to make me feel bad about my poor violin ability (except exist, which they can't really help!) but I'm a little embarrassed all the same. Nonetheless, they're all gone now, so I'm done feeling sorry for myself, and I'm going to go practice as soon as I get a load of laundry in the washer.

From Eric Stanfield
Posted on November 27, 2005 at 3:16 AM

I warned my house guests in advance that they had chosen an ill day to arrive, as Wednesday is the first practice after Tuesday's lesson which means a load of new material to butcher for a couple hours. They were gracious and did not complain, though I was suprised at how much beer they downed while I was upstairs.

From Karin Lin
Posted on November 27, 2005 at 6:01 AM

Think there was a connection?

From Eric Stanfield
Posted on November 27, 2005 at 4:03 PM

I'm sure ;)

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