Do you flip the turkey?

I first told this story 23 years ago:

In most families, carving the turkey is the traditional job handled by the eldest male. But in my family, the important job isn't the carving.

It's the flipping of the turkey.

My mother always insisted on flipping the turkey backside up in the pan.

"IT'S TIME TO FLIP THE TURKEY!!" she'd shout halfway through the cooking.

Now everyone knows that you don't flip a turkey, but this was my mother's way and her mother's way. No one dared to question it.

Several years ago, I was called upon to handle this important task. The disease weakening my mother had caused her to lose the use of her right arm. So she couldn't do the flipping anymore. Since my father is a klutz, the honor fell to me.

There's no such thing as a turkey-flipping utensil, so Mom improvised by handing me a long steel fork and a plastic turkey baster. She instructed me to lift the turkey, roll it in the air and gently lower it back in the pan - without splattering turkey drippings everywhere.

Whoops! The sizzling bird was too much to hold. The turkey slipped- and bounced off the floor. But as I quickly grabbed the bird and placed it back in the pan, Mom didn't yell at me. Probably because she didn't want the guests in the next room to hear. Our family tradition.

Final note: This was Mom's last Thanksgiving. She passed away a few weeks later.