For only the second time in my four decades of life, I will not be seeing my parents for Thanksgiving.  (The first time I was studying abroad in France.) This is due to an unfortunate convergence of commitments plus even more unfortunate family stuff plus an elderly dog (not mine). I should probably feel bad about it, but instead I'm buying chopped salad in a bag, roasting one turkey, and not worrying one single bit. As long as the statutory number of pies appear (one per human in attendance), my kids probably won't even notice.