Carolyn came over before we had to leave for Leigh's and cooked her two dishes (because her parents are freaks, but that's another story). There was a lot of food - Tofurky, my mashed potatoes and collard greens (which needed another boullion cube), carrots, stuffing, gravy...I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Oh, and Leigh and Ken got an ice cream maker as a wedding gift. Dangerous, I tell you.

I don't know how Carolyn felt, but I felt uncool amidst all the cool kids that are Ken's friends. I know Leigh has felt this way in the past, but not so much now. I wonder if it's more me than them, though. Probably a little of both in this case.

Thanksgiving was pretty uneventful. I wore this shirt just for Dad, even though it was in the 40s. So what if I'm too old to wear it? Anyway, it got hot in the kitchen as I helped Barb with the cooking. She made me a separate pan of dressing, turkey juice free! And she made a red velvet cheesecake that was on time. My brother Allan and my niece Stephanie were there, but Scott wasn't since he'd made other plans before she changed her mind about not having Thanksgiving at her house. Oh, well.

Oh, and I decided not to decorate this year. Along with the stress of the holidays and the stress of meeting my sister, I just didn't want to fool with it. Also, I'm not having the yearly xmas party here, unless we steam clean the carpet. It has a distinctive dog smell, but only if you get close to it (and we all end up sitting in the floor at the party, so...).

Friday I waited around in the afternoon until about 3:00 for Debbie, my sister's adoptive mother to call to tell me she was almost to her ex-husband's house. I waited about 10 minutes, then headed over. I was a bit nervous. Danielle greeted me at the door with tears in her eyes and gave me a hug. Being the aloof-seeming non-emotional person I am, I'm not sure what she thought of me. Also, I've known about her since my mother died in '97, and she just found out on Wednesday.

Her adoptive dad, brother, step-dad, and step-brother were there (and a hilarious boxer and pit bull - talk abot dog smell!). It was a little awkward, but Debbie did some magic tricks (no joke!) to break the tension. She's a card. Overall, I think it went ok. Besides being placed on the loveseat with her and feeling like everyone was staring at us, we looked at the pictures I brought - my baby book my mother had compiled that Debbie gave to me last year, some photos of our mother that Debbie and Barb had given me recently, some photos of me. I gave them one like my profile pic, and luckily I guilted them into taking the one without the flash, where my eyebrows are still there. The flash makes them disappear.

We exchanged addresses and will write to one another. I suppose I'll wait until she writes to respond. I know she probably has a lot of questions, but I probably know less than she thinks about our mother and her family. Debbie said she wouldn't get into the shunning from my uncles, but what do I say if she asks? Luckily it will be snail mail so I'll have time to email Debbie.

I noticed that like me, she is not so girly. I'm not sure if this is genetic at all, or more attributed to us both growing up mostly with a dad and older brother(s). When her parents divorced, she stayed with her dad in the house she grew up in (which happens to be about 5 minutes from me). She's also slim and petite, with slender hands and fingers. My fingers are a little more gnarly from various injuries, I guess. She's good at math like I am, and I'm told our mother was. Like I said, I'm not sure what traits are genetic and what is acquired. She looks more like our mother than I do. Oh, she can also tan. I'm not jealous, really!

Her mom has expressed some interest in finding her biological father. I sent her all of the names I could find in the box of my mother's stuff. She knows that the name on her birth certificate is not her father, according to my mother. Neither of us know how to go about finding someone like this. I'll have to do some googling.