Tag Archives: Family

Jan15

Thanksgiving, 2023

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Friday, 17-Nov-2023 through Sunday, 26-Nov-2023


A few years back, I started up a rotation for Thanksgiving – Massachusetts, Arizona, Friends, repeat. 2020 was “Massachusetts”, in a virtual sense… 2021 was a flight down to Arizona for a lovely high-desert turkey dinner, and then 2022 found me driving down to Sacramento for a dinner that couldn’t be beat. This year, I flew out East for an equally unbeatable meal… combined well with a week of family and friends!


It’s hard to summarize an entire week in a blog, without rambling on too long or simplifying it to the point of missed joy… but I’ll try, keeping it short and sweet so as to not steal time and energy from the other posts and photos that deserve posting and attention.

So let’s see…

I flew out early – taking the full week to visit with everyone in Medway. I worked remotely, with many thanks to my sister for loaning me her work from home setup while she was in the office. It was lovely – and I definitely understand why so many people are so protective of their freedom to work remotely. On top of the joy of just relaxing and working all under the same roof… My friend Bri flew out to join us! This was her first year joining us, and it was awesome to be able to bring her along and share some of the Eigner family Thanksgiving fun with her!



I got to meet up with friends! Dillon and Liz, getting to have a lovely mid-workday lunch, and see their awesome new home, along with hitting my first climbing gym ever with Daniel and Bri! Turns out, the grades there are surprisingly similar to those in Portland… which is neat, since a few years back they were radically different. Advantage of a more interconnected world, maybe?



My Mom, Bri, Hannah, and I had a spa night! It was excellent, and led to some… slightly horrifying… group photos. No regrets, and they’ll make excellent Halloween decorations for next year.



Thanksgiving itself was in Amherst, at my Aunt and Uncle’s house. I got to spend some excellent time with my cousin and her kids, and even let him fly the drone around a bit! Amazing food, excellent times… It really was a gift to be able to see everyone in person and spend time just relaxing and catching up.



Second Thanksgiving in Medway was, also unsurprisingly, glorious! My sister cooked up a storm, with assistance of course, making a stellar second meal along with dangerously decadent desserts.



We took a hike to the Stoney Brook, the Audubon society camp where I spent summers for ages and ages. It’s just as lovely as I remember it being, and was a great walk (literally) down memory lane.


I brought the drone along! As mentioned, my cousin’s son has a blast flying it around… and it did a pretty good job of getting a few aerial photos of everyone!

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May18

A flight of New England Fancy – A passover Seder!

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It’s been a while since I’ve been back to Massachusetts… I think it was for Dillon and Liz’s wedding, wasn’t it? That’s sounding right… though I frankly can’t believe that was only six months ago. These last few months have felt like forever, and it was high time that I got back East. The rock was calling, family and friends beckoned, and I hadn’t seen my Grandma in far, far too long…


Saturday, 16-May-2022

Man… I can’t remember the last time I had a Passover Seder with my family in person. It must have been at least three or four years… Pre-Covid, definitely, and I’m pretty sure that it was noticeably before then.

This was a unique chance – COVID had died down enough that everyone was (hesitantly) comfortable meeting in person, assuming we all took a couple tests ahead of time, and the whole family was in one place for the first time in… jeeze. At least 10 years, if I’m remembering correctly.

Granted, it was also a bit melancholy… this was the first year that we were missing an entire generation. Melancholy, but also important – as the first year without either my Grandma or Grandpa, it was important for us all to get together and celebrate our heritage, family, and the spirit that the show goes on… even if those who founded the show have passed away.


We ate, we drank, we fulfilled the mitzvot of the Seder.

We caught up, played with the newest youngsters, and used the time we had together as best we could. It was, undoubtedly, a good Seder.


As a small note to future version of myself – this is a good spot to note just where my mental state was, these days. It wasn’t great, truth be told. Spending time with family, and away from my normal haunts, was absolutely good for me… but it was being a tough year.

As a tangible example: I didn’t realize that it was Passover until I arrived, and was looking for crackers to snack on. “Cracker’s aren’t kosher for Passover, Ben!”

I knew that I was going to Mass for the Seder. I knew that a Seder meant Passover. But I never made the connection that “Going to Mass” meant “Passover”. I just didn’t have the spoons to make that connection, until it was kinetically right in front of me.

Yeah. I needed that break.