Thanksgiving 2022

Destin, Florida 2022

Of course I think of the past on holidays. It's been a little easier this year though. It doesn't hurt as much. Healing. 

I've spent this week on the beach with my wonderful husband enjoying the warmth of the sun and the sand in the warm gulf waters. The pool has been temperate and the hot tub delicious. I've slept well in a comfortable king size bed. My BP has been perfect and blood sugars have been in the normal / near normal range all week. I've been incredibly relaxed and have been having fun. We've met some interesting / nice people and crossed paths again with people from last year since we are staying in the same place. Choosing to have a no stress holiday is for me.

Life affirming.

Sunrise, Destin, Florida 2022

Life is good. Gratitude. I am grateful for the life Chris and I have built over the past four years. I'm filled with overflowing gratitude today. Really being loved and respected and respecting and loving him is the greatest thing of my life. He is so much fun. I love his antics, his caring, his kindness, and his love.

This year we have new beach chairs and a new umbrella which makes the trek on the beach easier. Being gulf facing at a resort, we are just steps away from the beach. We're thinking about snow-birding or a permanent move. We're in a position to make that happen now if we choose that.

Thanksgiving dinner, Destin, Fl 2022

For our holiday dinner... We had a fabulous dinner today at lunch time at Mezcal Mexican Restaurant. It was a full traditional Thanksgiving menu in three courses. Lentil soup and Cesar salad to start. Followed by the main course with turkey, ham, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, real cranberry sauce, mashed sweet potatoes with candied pecans, and a small ciabatta dinner roll. Dessert was a choice of either traditional pumpkin pie or key lime pie. I think the turkey was better than I make and I have 30 plus years experience of great turkey making under by belt.

 

Dining in Destin

Being married to a Sicilian Filipino, I'm more of an assistant in his kitchen, even though I can still teach him a few things here and there. I am grateful my Sicilian

Dinner "in" at the condo. Destin, Fl 2022

Colossal shrimp. Destin, Fl 2022

mother-in-law taught him well. We've eaten amazingly well this week. Day one: Colossal shrimp the size of my palm that we cooked ourselves from Destin Ice & Seafood, Tuscan bread with olive oil we infused with Italian spices, the loaf of which graced our table multiple times through the week. Day two: Roasted garlic pork loin with loaded baked potatoes and asparagus. Day three: Destin Ice & Seafood steamed Colossal shrimp in their spices. Day four: Italian sausage and cheese tortellini with sun dried tomatoes and broccoli. Day five: Thanksgiving at Mezcal.Mexican Restaurant. Day six (tomorrow): Lobster ravioli with bombolina marinara. Eating in all week except for today has been amazing. We're going to have to take the two and a half inch thick pork chop home with us. Maybe that can be for our Sunday dinner.

One morning we had fantastic pancakes at the Pancakery. Chris had bacon pancakes and I had blueberry pancakes. Mine we so good that syrup was not needed. The rest of the days we cooked breakfast, as well as lunch, in the condo.

Family matters...

I spent an hour on the phone with my oldest today. I hear from them often, almost daily. We have a solid relationship. The other two I sent a holiday greeting to and received crickets as expected. No worries. All is alright in my world. 

The ex was silent, thank God. I sent no communication and didn't want any from him. He is the harbinger of stress for me with the antics of his alcoholic / criminal / bipolar mind. Even sending him a positive congrats on his marriage he twisted. 

I've zipped up my identity theft protections against him and his new wife. I don't see any new shenanigans on the horizon beyond his recent stalking of my house with his new bride that has the same first name as I do. Precautions are necessary there. I don't stalk his house or his life, which is why I was surprised when I found out accidentally that he found someone that he proposed to and married a month later because he did it at a public event. She was the dog groomer that he mentioned. Which explained why he disallowed me a visit with them the last time I asked. An unpaid Google search of her resulted in finding that she has a more checkered past than him with multiple marriages and criminal activity across 21 states, although I initially found less states and was corrected, lol. So, I suppose they are suited for each other. I didn't know about his criminal past / activities until well after I had married him. 

I raised the kids and kept the dogs from the point of separation in 2006 through the fall of 2017. I loved them and did what I needed to do to provide for them to make sure they had a good start. He gave money but not much of his time. If he thought I had something planned he would simply not pick them up - anything to be an asshole to me. He saw them maybe twice a month for an overnight, since he was every other weekend, sometimes not showing up for that. He was Disney dad providing the fun that I could not afford during those times. Really I was the one that raised them from birth. The ex was an absent parent most of the time during the early years as well. Which is the irony that they estranged from me.

It's a peaceful thing that I am not married to him anymore. It's been twelve years. There was once a time that I thought that I'd always be friends with him since we started out that way. But that is impossible with all the lies and manipulations, particularly post divorce up until five years ago when I finally drew hard boundaries. It took time to heal from divorce.

Final thoughts...

It's been a great week and good holiday with contact throughout the day with family and friends from phone calls, texts, and on social media. I hope everyone out there from the states had a good Thanksgiving and had much to be grateful for.

Sunset at Destin, Fl 2022