Thanksgiving

Almost everybody says that they are most thankful for their family, and I agree, they are the most important thing in my life. However I feel like they became especially important to me this Thanksgiving. I have never realized the comfort and joy they add to my Thanksgiving every year.


This year was the first Thanksgiving I have ever spent away from home. I flew down to Georgia for a week over break to spend the holiday with my boyfriend and his family. I bought my plane ticket, packed, and flew down there oblivious as to how I would feel Thanksgiving Day.


My boyfriend’s family did not celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday, but Friday. However, my family back home got together and ate turkey as planned on Thursday. On facebook that evening, I looked through their smiling pictures over and over again. As I flipped through the album time after time the feeling in the pit of my stomach grew more and more intense. I missed them badly. It was hard to believe that they had had such a perfectly normal and traditional family Thanksgiving without me.


The next day, Friday, was not as I had expected. The meal was wonderful, the people were all nice, but it didn’t feel like Thanksgiving as I thought it would. I thought that Thanksgiving was Thanksgiving no matter who you spent it with.


It was then that I realized that Thanksgiving isn’t about the good food and talking around the table. It’s about being with those you love and who love you. It’s about valuing your family, what you are most thankful for.