Lorraine isn't coming for Thanksgiving.

Mom was adopted when she was a few days old and four years ago she got a phone call from a Canadian social worker telling her that her biological mother was looking for her and wondering whether it was ok to release her contact information. A lot of things had happened in Lorraine's life and on top of that the adoption laws in Canada had just changed, making it much easier for her to start looking. After some freaked out phone calls to me and others (for instance, to find out that yes, my grandma had told some stranger on the phone both what mom's married name was and what city she lived in) Mom faxed her contact information to said social worker and started an email relationship with Lorraine. Eventually these email conversations moved to a couple of phone conversations and then to their meeting in Seattle six months later.
Then she came down for Thanksgiving with her new husband Wes and we had a wonderful wonderful time seeing her. It was so crazy to see the things she and my mom have in common. These crazy similarities is mannerisms that you would otherwise be sure were things you picked up from your environment that, as it turns out, are solely genetic.
The next year we went up to Victoria to spend American Thanksgiving with them. This is one of the best, least stressful family trips we've ever taken, ever. We wandered around downtown Victoria, we sat around the house talking for hours and drinking tea. We missed the ferry ride home and I froze my ass off and forced mom to take funny pictures with me next to giant stuffed killer whales.... generally good times...
So I was really excited when I heard that Lorraine and Wes were going to be able to come down for Thanksgiving again this year. I was looking forward to having family over for dinner that would actually bring interesting conversation to the table. Sadly, this is not happening. This will be fine, Thanksgivings with just the four of us are always good. But it sure would have been nice to see Lorraine again.