Thanksgiving Past

The brothers were 8 an 6 in this photo in the front yard at my grandmother's neighbors house.

Charlie on that same Thanksgiving day in San Antonio in their homemade hot rod, with brother Bobby.

My mother, Elena, Charlie and Bobby Thanksgiving Day when I was four years old

This is me with my brother Bobby and cousin Bessie on the same day. It was our last Thanksgiving there before leaving San Antonio since we moved to Chicago that following spring. My brother was being silly and pretended to bite off the ends of the drumsticks to the turkey.

The following year found us homeless after a fire in our attic apartment. We lived with some other family until my parents bought a home in the suburbs. I remember we went to visit my Aunt Alice and her husband and son, and we ate baloney sandwiches for our Thanksgiving meal.

It occurred to me a short time ago that the reason we had sandwiches on Thanksgiving was because we didn't have a kitchen to prepared a turkey like in the years past. Aunt Alice lived in a rented room at that time, so that must have been why we had no big turkey feast that year. It didn't phase us, since the years after that were prosperous and we always had what we needed.