CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
I could smell the turkey roasting in the oven when I woke up Thursday morning. I purposely didn’t set my alarm clock. I wanted to sleep in—I looked forward to it. Getting up every morning for school drained me. Besides, everyone knew pre-teens were teenagers in training, really. We needed to sleep past noon on vacations and weekends, or else we would never be prepared for teen-hood.
After taking a long hot shower and getting dressed, I went downstairs. I wasn’t prepared to see both sets of grandparents. They all sat at the table. Papa Phil and Grandma Patty sat across from each other, and at opposite ends sat Papa Ray and Grandma Joanne.
Papa Phil and Grandma Patty were Dad’s parents. They moved to Tucson, Arizona two years ago after Papa Phil retired. I knew my Mom a
