“Happy families are all alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
This Oswald family footage, taken on 11.22.62 or Thanksgiving Day, is indistinguishable from tens of thousands of home movies taken that very same afternoon. Family celebrations are pretty much all the same, and are always about facades. The insisted-upon emotions of these gatherings (happiness, contentment, alpha vibes) always mask the undercurrents.
Even the 23-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald wore a happy face that day…imagine.
American Thanksgiving celebrations are about hope and cheer and togetherness. In every home and at every dinner table everyone is presumed to be doing reasonably well or at least trying to do better, and planning for the best. But you never know.
Sasha Stone, currently in Ohio, just told me about joining her daughter, her daughter’s boyfriend, the boyfriend’s brother and other family members for a pre-Thanksgiving get-together. “And the vibes were really great,” she said, “because the family members seemed genuinely happy…unlike so many extended families today they don’t all hate each other….they get along.”
Happy Sliced Turkey Breast with Micro-Waved, Deli-Prepared Gravy plus Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Green Giant or Del Monte Peas and Beans.
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