The Hallmark version of Thanksgiving goes something like this: two tow-headed children sitting eagerly at the well-appointed dining room table filled with a meal that would make Martha Stewart drool. Around these gorgeously sweatered young kids are sundry aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins waiting for the golden-brown turkey to be carved by Mom and Dad.
This is not my Thanksgiving reality.
As I've come to expect in the news biz, Thanksgiving was spent at work. Despite the fluorescent lighting, humming computers and plastic cutlery though there was a feeling of family.
It was around 1:45 Thursday afternoon when that feeling crept upon me. I was sitting at my desk eating our station purchased Thanksgiving fare (Thank you, WVEC!)...when familiar things started happening.
11 p.m. producer Andrew Haag and reporter Wayne Carter were loudly impersonating friends. Lindsey Roberts and Vanessa Coria were reminicising about years past spent eating turkey and the trimmings in assorted newsrooms around the country. Our talented photography crew -- including Andrew Tawes, Ryan Bellamy, Andy Franklin and Jason Walsh, along with satellite truck operator Bryan Tulwits were fervently discussing the make-up of the stuffing (It was corn bread, by the way.) Kristina Rohall and Patrick Terpstra were typing and eating at the same time and occasionally chiming in. All of this chaos was being watched over by our producers extraordinaire: Bob Bennett, Doug Wieder and Jo Rosenberg...laughing at all of the nuttiness around them.
While we may not be bound share genetic code, these folks are my family here in Norfolk. And although my Thanksgiving experience wasn't sappy holiday commercial material... the combination of good food, laughter and friends is pretty much all it takes to make Thanksgiving feel just like home to me.
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