Chapter 10
Thanksgiving I woke up, showered, and found something decent to wear. I didn’t want to get too formal if no one else was but I also wanted to look put together. This was a holiday after all and looking good never hurt anyone. Once Andrew was out of bed and functioning we left the room and headed to the cafeteria to help with the cooking. There were a lot of us and the more that helped the better. Andrew’s mother was so pleased to see us together still after the fiasco that happened the week prior, actually everyone was pleased to see us still together. We both knew though that our relationship, like everyone else’s, needed teamwork to function properly. We were under no special rules because we were a gay couple. Hell we might even have more because we have the public eye and my little, issue. Andrew was beyond willing to see this work out for the better. He really wanted us to talk and do all he could to help, it was a beautiful gesture. I never had anyone like that in my life before. Arriving at the cafeteria the gang, minus Amanda, was here helping set up. She was at her own home helping her family. I half wondered what mine was doing. Usually my father and I watched football all day while my mother cooked. My aunt and uncle on my dad’s side would come over and we would have dinner around two. Nothing special, this year though I already felt it was.
“Greg, willing to learn to cook?” David asked as we entered the kitchen. He was helping Mary with something, I wasn’t quite sure what.
“Sure, I feel everyone should.”
“Andrew doesn’t.”
“I hate cooking.”
Andrew was shoved out of the kitchen to help set the tables while I watched and learned how to make the side dishes. Apparently the turkeys were already in the ovens and had been for quite some time. David and I worked on those with Nick on occasion but he really worked with Andrew, apparently though he could cook.
“Greg, done with the stuffing?”
“Just about.”
“Here make a pie.”
Looking up I saw David throw me a can of pie filling, well that seemed easy enough. How could Andrew not handle any of this? Seeing the pie crusts had already been done all I had to do was add the fruit pie filling to the crust and cover it. The pumpkin needed a few ingredients but even that wasn’t too hard. I could do this all day.
“This all smells fantastic ma’am.” Cindy came in with Michelle and another girl to see how they could help. Together we would easily have everything done in time. It felt nice to be a part of a team the way we were, to be a part of a family. That’s a better word for this, family, and really it was the best way to spend Thanksgiving; with family.
By two everything was done and everyone started filling in the cafeteria, some lent hands while we brought the food out others began to sit. I couldn’t wait to eat, all the smells were making me work up such an appetite. There had to be at least sixty of us, many of which I had never met but they were my brothers and sisters. And to think, I was born an only child. Once we were all seated Dean stood and said to all of us,
“I won’t pray knowing we are all different faiths but I want to take a moment to say how grateful I am to all of you for giving this a chance. This community has been around for only four years and when started I was told it would never work. We would become a poor run down town, used for drugs as the youth would be unmanageable. We have proved them wrong, I know we seem like one giant foster family but remember we are just that, family. We come from all different walks of life, our stories different but you are my sons and daughters and you are all brothers and sisters, destined for great things. So I ask that we all raise our glasses and toast to having more years and remember that no matter where you’re lives take you, you all have a home to return to. You all have family that supports you. To Members.”
