Talking Turkey, Giving Thanks, & Taking Sides!

And so, well, I thought it was kind of fitting for us to talk a little turkey on today's episode.

Something I find kind of humorous about the Thanksgiving Day holiday is there's kind of a lot of battles going on when it comes to Thanksgiving.

A lot of opinions people throw around on which is the best, or how do you say something?

How is it pronounced?

Or what do you call it?

Kind of like, you know, is is everybody's favorite?

It's is it the white meat or the dark meat?

Are you all about the turkey or all about the sides?

Are you pecan pie or team pumpkin pie?

You know, it just goes back and forth, much less than us throw in some uh football games and oh my goodness, it can be quite the day.

And anyways, you know, I'm wondering what is your favorite thing about Thanksgiving?

Or what is your favorite Thanksgiving memory?

I hope today's episode helps you to maybe think about your own past Thanksgiving Day holidays and think which were some of your favorite.

The thing that I find funny about holidays like Thanksgiving is, you know, the ones that stand out the most in your mind are the ones when generally nothing really went right.

Because it seems like whether it's a vacation that we're thinking back on or a holiday, you know, the ones that everything went perfectly fine are the ones that we don't really think about.

It's kind of hard for us to remember.

But the ones when things went all wrong, that's the ones that stand out in our mind.

And so I thought I would share my favorite Thanksgiving memory.

And that goes back to when I was a little kid.

Way back before I ever became blind, I grew up riding dirt bikes.

And a big part of riding dirt bikes for me was a state park in Brooksville, Florida called Croom.

This was a 2,000-acre state park just for dirt bikes and four-wheelers.

And well, for me and my dad, we basically considered it our second home.

Every Thanksgiving holiday, every Christmas holiday, spring break, and at least one or two times during the summer, me and my dad would go over to Kroom, camping in a tent for a week at a time, doing nothing but riding dirt bikes and cooking around a campfire.

Now, at the Thanksgiving holiday, it's a very busy time for people to go to this state park.

So much so that when you would pull into the state park, you really didn't know if you were going to snag one of the camping spots or not.

And on this particular time visiting Kroom, we were one of the unlucky ones because we go rolling into Chrome along with a couple of other friends of ours to find all the camping spaces already took in.

And you know, you have to understand, we're coming to spend a week there.

We are totally loaded down.

The bed of my dad's truck is filled to the brim.

We're pulling a trailer that is is stuffed, but it has our dirt bikes in it, plus more camping gear and firewood.

I mean, we're ready to set up camp.

And now there's no camping sites available whatsoever.

So that's what brings me to my memory about Thanksgiving.

Because, you know, at that point, we weren't ready to give up.

We certainly weren't about to turn around and drive the two hours back home.

Instead, we ended up utilizing the hotel that was located right at the entrance of the state park.

I don't know what kind of hotel it was.

I'm gonna say it was like a days in or something, nothing fancy by any means.

And, anyways, we ended up going and we had went ahead and got a couple of hotel rooms to stay in, but then we ended up literally setting up camp in the back parking lot of this hotel.

And so I can remember Thanksgiving Day.

We're all set up, the friends of ours, they had the whole turkey fryer set up.

We had a picnic table.

And so here we are in the back parking lot of a days-in hotel, all sitting around a turkey fryer, just hanging out like we were in the middle of a campground, and instead we're in just the back of some hotel.

I can only imagine what other visitors must have been thinking.

And uh, well, like I said, that's one of those instances where things didn't go as planned, but it made for one of the most memorable Thanksgivings that I had.

Now, most of my Thanksgivings revolve around being at my Nana's house.

I always like to go over there in the morning and help her cook.

Well, I always say that I'm going to help her cook, but I more so I say I'm just there for the moral support and uh helping Nana to remember what Nana's supposed to be doing and hoping that she'll uh give me a little taste of this or that, you know, while she's cooking.

We also always, a big part of it, is having the Macy's Day Parade on TV.

Now, to be quite honest, I don't really care for parades.

Parades have never been a big thing for me.

And the Macy's Day Parade in particular with all that Broadway style music and productions, it's just not quite my style.

But for me, it's just not Thanksgiving with that not on the TV.

So that's kind of, you know, a big part of my Thanksgiving.

And I plan on it being a big part of it this year as well.

Now, let's get down to business.

I talked about some competition that happens on Thanksgiving.

So I'm gonna run down the list.

It kind of gives you a little bit better insight into me, who I am, what I love.

Turkey.

Is it all about the turkey or all about the sides?

Me, you can keep your turkey and give me some sides.

Now, if I am talking turkey though, you better bet I want me some moist dark meat.

And in terms of the side dishes, what is my favorite?

Well, I have to go with my Nana's sweet potato casserole.

Now, I know a lot of people do the whole marshmallow thing on top of the sweet potatoes.

Nah nah nah nah nah.

Nana, she does this incredible secret recipe, crunchy goodness, that is just absolutely out of this world.

And so, well, that's definitely my favorite thing about Thanksgiving.

And Nana is sure that we only have that dish on Thanksgiving because, as she says, if we have it all the other times of the year, then that won't make it special.

And so that's, I mean, I guess she's right, but at the same point, I think I don't see anything wrong with us having it more than just once a year.

Now, in terms of the whole pumpkin pie versus pecan pie debate, I have to say there's really not one that's any better than the other.

Because when I sit down, it's kind of like an internal struggle in my mind because I have to sit down with a slice of each.

And I go back and forth, back and forth.

And it's this battle when you're down to the last bite of each.

Which one do you end with?

Now, maybe that's a sign that I have an eating problem, but you know what?

So be it.

Okay, enough talking about food and all of my ramblings.

I want to end today's quick little episode by doing the one thing that Thanksgiving is all about, and that is giving thanks.

My grandmother, she always declared me as her most thankful grandchild.

Because anytime that Nana would ever send us cards for our birthdays or for the holidays, I was always sure to tell Nana thank you.

And I'm still a very big person about giving thanks today.

Because, you know, I feel like if somebody's gonna do something for you, I don't care how big or small, you need to be sure to let them know how grateful you are for it.

And well, today, I want to be sure that I let people know how grateful I am for them.

And for here on the podcast, you know, first and foremost, I want to thank you.

Because, you know, it's a lot of work putting together a podcast episode each week.

But if I didn't have you listening and giving me feedback on how much you enjoy the podcast, I just don't think it would make it quite so worth it.

And so, well, thank you.

Thank you for tuning in each week.

Thank you for sharing the podcast with your friends.

Thank you for sending me these random emails.

I love it when all of a sudden I open up my emails inbox and I have an email from one of my listeners, somebody somewhere in the country or somewhere in the world who's let me know that an episode that I've released has really impacted them or it made them think of their sibling or, you know, whatever it was.

That's just it means the world to me.

And so I want to thank you for doing that.

I also, though, I have to give thanks to two women who make this podcast possible.

There's a saying that behind every great man is an even better woman, or something like that.

I don't know.

And anyways, I've kind of adopted it for my podcast, and that is behind any good podcast is an even better podcast editor.

And well, that's why I've got to give it up to my editor, Angela.

Angela is absolutely amazing.

I've been working with Angela since I started the podcast.

And well, we've just kind of developed this awkward dance.

You know, I send her all my files, give her some few notes, and she goes to work.

And all of a sudden, she sends me back this beautiful final product.

And I'm like, oh my goodness, Angela, you nailed the dance once again.

Well, so to Angela, thank you.

Thank you for making it possible for me to do this podcast.

Because if it wasn't for you, there's just no way that I could do this podcast.

Plain and simple.

Now, if you're a podcaster yourself needing voiceover work, definitely check out the show notes because I'm going to leave a link to where you can find out more about my editor, Angela, because, well, she does work for more than just me.

And you can find her on Fiverr under the name of VoiceOver Angela.

Like I said, I will leave a link in the show notes where you can check out some of her gigs and see if she might be able to help you out.

Now, the other woman I mentioned is Tori.

Tori is my web designer.

And some people may think that when you design a website, it's kind of like a done deal.

You have the website designed, you put it up, and you leave it there and you don't do anything with it.

Well, that's definitely not the case.

And so, well, I'm constantly emailing Tori, asking her to make some edits, some tweaks to the website to maybe help me put up a blog post or whatever it is.

She's so amazing.

And so, well, I've got to give it up to Tori with her company, Tori Lake Design.

Matter of fact, you can find her link in the show notes also in case you're in need of some web design or graphic design help.

Now, those are just two women who, for me, they've just been so amazing and have made it, like I said, they've made it possible for me to even be doing this podcast.

Because, you know, sometimes you got to realize maybe you can do it all yourself, but are you enjoying it?

Is it a total headache for you?

Well, if so, well, then maybe you need to think about hiring somebody.

And for me, I love it that I can help support other people just like myself trying to make it in this world in this entrepreneurial journey that I'm on.

So, anyways, wrapping it up, I just want to say thank you.

Thank you to Tori, to Angela, and thank you, well, to you.

And well, I hope that you have an absolutely amazing Thanksgiving holiday if you're here in the United States and celebrating Thanksgiving.

Otherwise, well, I don't know.

If you're somewhere else in the world, just realize that uh, you know, it doesn't really matter what day it is or where you're living at, you can always be thankful for all the things in your life.

Have an awesome holiday, everybody.