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

I opened a composition notebook the next morning. I had always kept notebooks, job logs, bid notes, crew schedules.

Paper does not argue with you. Whatever you write down stays written.

I dated the first page May 14th and began writing entries.

Over the next 11 months, the pattern held with the reliability of a poorly maintained engine, regular, predictable, and getting worse.

6 weeks before Thanksgiving, my sister Nell texted me a screenshot at 6:52 in the morning. She had been added to a family group chat the previous fall.

Candace had created it, which meant Candace had also typed a message at 6:48 that Tuesday morning that she believed was going to Trey and instead went to everyone.

The message read, “Tell your dad Stewart is taking the head chair this year. Arrange it before they arrive. Also remind Trey a few more months and we don’t need to keep doing all this. Finch signs over by spring. See you Thursday.”