Come on and shake your tailfeathers. It's Thanksgiving!

We've written stories in the past about how home medical equipment allows people to travel to visit friends and relatives for the holidays.

This year, I spoke with the folks at Pediatric Home Services about a photo contest they are holding that shows how vents and other HME allows medically fragile children to do just that. It was a nice contrast to the usual stuff about seniors and oxygen tanks (not that there's anything wrong with that). This allows the provider to not only highlight the services it provides but also showcases the advances that have been made in technology (lighter weight, longer battery).

I am so lucky all I have to do is haul along my glucometer (and strips, insulin, syringe and, if I am really on the ball, fast-acting glucose tabs). And maybe a bottle of wine.

Maybe the first or second year after I was diagnosed, I wound up eating by myself, simply because I was starving, my sugar was bottoming out and it seemed silly to eat extra food that I didn't want or need merely to prolong the turkey. Fortunately, experience has taught me how to better plan around unusual meal times. And carbs. And relatives in general.

Speaking of carbs—and prolonging dinner—have I ever introduced you to my brother and his deep fryer? (We are a little different from one another in all things food, needless to say).

Well, he got the bright idea to deep fry the damn bird (it was all the rage that year). Dinner was a little late. And later. Needless to say, as Russ futzed about with the turkey behind the garage (that's where the fryer was, he wasn't trying to catch the bird), the rest of us chatted, snacked, poured more wine.

Finally, it was time:

"Folks," said bro, "dinner's ready. And there's no turkey."

Did we really just hear that right?

Yes, yes we did. Apparently, he could never get the oil hot enough, so the bird never really cooked but it did get a good soaking in oil.

At least we had room for lots of side dishes and pie, needless to say.

Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels to you and yours.