The paths that led past the campus and up the Hill to Memorial Stadium would now have filled with game going crowds, Caydance thought as she lingered at the isolated-from-the-Big-Game deli. Griff was spending Thanksgiving with the Stanford football team in Tokyo. Juanjose was joining Edelira for Thanksgiving in Miami. Jack and Giselle were spending Thanksgiving somewhere in the wine country, where the food was exceptional, and California wine flowed abundantly at every winery along the way.

Her Thanksgiving plan had been to pack cold weather clothes, hiking boots, Peet's coffee, apple cider doughnuts, French bread and cheese fondue ingredients -- and drive to a cabin in the Sierras, where she knew she would find friends. In case it snowed, she would pack her cross country skis.