I spent 6 hours cooking Thanksgiving dinner. At 7 pm, my son arrived with 6 guests from my daughter-in-law’s family. They sat down like they owned my home. My DIL said, “Would you mind eating in the kitchen, Dad?” I just smiled and walked into the kitchen… what I did next had everyone screaming. – usnews

Vic arrived first at 6:30, with a pie his wife had sent from the bakery she ran on the east side of town.

He set it on the counter and looked around the kitchen.

The way a man looks at a place he has heard about for years and is finally seeing.

“Good kitchen,” he said.

“It is,” I agreed.

Pete Sanger came with Darnell Pope and Marcus Tilman, and the three of them filled my hallway with the noise of men who were comfortable with each other and not trying to be anything other than what they were.

Ben Aldridge arrived at 6:50 in his good coat.

Carrying a bottle of wine, he sat on the counter without ceremony.

Clark Donovan came at 7 exactly the way he did everything and shook my hand at the door.

My sister Nell came last, the way she always had, with the particular energy she carried when she was happy, which was the best kind of energy I knew.