My mother-in-law told me to get up at 4 a.m. to cook Thanksgiving dinner for her 30 guests. My husband added, “This time, remember to make everything really perfect!” I smiled and replied, “Of course.” At 3 a.m., I took my suitcase to the airport. – usnews 0/2

She looked around the room at the assembled relatives, all of whom had stopped their cooking attempts to listen.

“Isabella didn’t abandon you,” Carmen said, her voice cutting through the kitchen noise. “You abandoned her. All of you. For five years, you’ve watched her work herself to death for your comfort. And not one of you ever thought to say, ‘Hey, maybe one person shouldn’t be responsible for feeding thirty-two people alone.’”

“Now wait just a minute,” Vivien started.

But Carmen cut her off.

“No, you wait. Do you have any idea what Isabella’s Thanksgiving preparation looked like? She started planning the menu three weeks in advance. She spent two days shopping for ingredients. She got up at 3:30 a.m. to start cooking, and she didn’t sit down until after the dishes were done at 9:00 p.m. Seventeen and a half hours of nonstop work while the rest of you watched football and complained if the stuffing was too dry.”