HeyJoe:

Alan and I made that call last year. It was before Thanksgiving (a few weeks), I called around to the local Churches and asked 'are you giving out meals for Thanksgiving, do you need any help?" and I was told "oh, we are making gift baskets but we have enough people, thank you".

I was told that by everybody I called. So, because no one needed our help, we coudn't help. I mean, all you can do is make the attempt.

I think if we had called in Manhattan, and volunteered at a soup kitchen or something like that, maybe we might have had more luck, but honestly, because we don't drive and we use the Access-a-ride and on Thanksgiving day, forget about the Access-a-ride not making you wait for one hour, well, we are talking about waiting for the Access-a-ride, a two hour ride to NYC, and then back again. It's too hard on the knees when you have arthritits and with Alan's PN, sitting for long periods is impossible.

And now that he is all wrapped up with the foot ulcer, we aren't going anywhere either.

Oh well, and in my case, it's made even worse because since I was 24 years old, when my parents moved to another state, I have spent every single Thanksgiving day at my best friend's house (along with her 40 relatives).

Unfortunately, she proved NOT to be my best friend and we've not spoken (nor has any of her 40 family members even attempted to find a solution), in the past 2 years.

Very very hard, to spend 36 years at Thanksgiving (along with weekends and other holidays, with people you've know since you are 13, and have it all GO AWAY, in the blink of an eye.

But we adapt. We have to. We have learned that we only have each other and because I can make Alan laugh and he makes me laugh, well, I guess that's what we have to do. It's called making the best of a bad situation.

So to my fellow friends on these Boards, I know it's a bit early, but I do wish all of you a Happy Turkey Day. And if you are alone, please believe that you are not alone in these situations.

We have to continue to reach out and communicate through these forums.

Melody

P.S. I just read about Ernest Borgnine the other day. He looks exactly the same as he did when he played in McHale's Navy. He is now 90, married to Tova for 35 years and just made 2 more movies. One is coming out on tv during the Christmas Holidays. He says every morning upon awakening "Hey, I made it again".

I laughed my head off