We’ll be spending this Thanksgiving with my birth mother’s family.

In years past, we’ve been at my adoptive parents’ place, sometimes stopping by birth mom’s for a second dessert on the way home. Every so often there was a second dinner elsewhere, or we had the main meal elsewhere, but it was a rare occasion when my a-parents did not get priority.

I could claim it’s because of my dad’s advancing years. He’s the eldest of all the parents by far. I could claim his health, though he’s as tough as a viking – not even requiring pain meds after major surgery. But…he’ll always be the eldest, as long as he’s alive. And other parents now have health issues, some precarious, some permanent. So it’s really an excuse, a way out, to forgo the others in favor of him.

The truth is, he’s the favorite. I don’t feel I owe…