My Thanksgiving was fine, a quick trip down to L.A. My whole complicated family gathered, as usual. I played with my baby siblings, who continue to be taller than me. I squeezed a lot of orange juice. I saw a couple old friends. It was all very pleasant.
The sweetest surprise came when we were all at the beach. You guys do that, right? Go to the beach on Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years, to soak up some sun and warmth and watch dolphins surf? I mean, it is too cold to swim, but the sand is still warm when you bury your feet in it and the sun still feels good on your face. My family does that a lot, going to the beach on the winter holidays. Anyway, my brother and I were roughhousing and I have to say that I’m not especially eager to be charged by him anymore. It is harder to divert or lift or stop him these days. Getting tackled by him involves a lot of jarring nowadays.
In fact, I hadn’t seen him coming and he did tackle me to the ground and I was still figuring out what all happened when the littler nephew came flying down the sand to save me. NO! he shouted. NO DO THAT! And he threw himself into the mix to stop my brother. I don’t know if I can fully tell you how touched and amazed I am. I had no idea he’d do that. Well, the running and shouting are standard for him, and so is throwing himself into whatever he’s doing. Thought, decision and action are one to him. But I didn’t know he’d save me so emphatically, that he would notice or take sides between me and his adored uncle who chases him all day.
You pour yourself out for the littles, you know. Carry them and tend them and hold them if they wake in the night and put their shoes on one more time. Lots of times they don’t seem to notice, or they refuse me and want Mom. Or they shout at you or defy you or refuse your food. So you can’t tell how much they care, if they love you with the same ferocious intensity that you feel for them. But on Saturday, he saw me in trouble and I saw him flying down the beach, an almost three year old charging with all his heart to save me from a gangly six foot brother. I am still overcome. That was the best part of Thanksgiving. It might be the best part of this whole year.