Thanksgiving 2k15

Thanksgiving for me has always been kind of a weird holiday. I love food, don't get me wrong, but Thanksgiving food has always been kind of... Eh. Does anyone actually love turkey? And how much can one person love mashed potatoes? I know I stand basically alone in this conclusion, but that has always been my opinion of Turkey Day food. You wanna dedicate an entire day to Italian food? I'm in. How about a day where we gorge ourselves on steak, or sushi, or Mexican food?! My point is, I love food, just not particularly "Thanksgiving food."

So growing up I always thought it was the strangest thing in the world for someone to say "Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday." I would literally sit there and think "You're lying. It's nobody's favorite holiday." (Because of course 8-year-old Austin was the center of the universe and if she didn't care about Thanksgiving, nobody else could either).

I had held that basic idea of the holiday most of my childhood. Then one year I realized I was looking forward to Thanksgiving. Not for the food, but for the time with people that I love. Thanksgiving is one holiday that is completely dedicated to spending time with family. There is no agenda, no gifts, no expectations (unless you actually care about the food). It is a holiday meant to spend quality time, which for me has become my number one love language.

My family growing up consisted of three of us at any given time (whether my brother & I were with our Mom or Dad). Our extended families were in California or Michigan or somewhere else far away. Can you imagine a Thanksgiving dinner for only three people? It's really not worth the effort. Instead, we got used to spending Thanksgiving with friends.

When you don't have true family nearby, you get to experience the joy of choosing the friends you want to be apart of your family. M and I did it in Virginia when it was just us. Either you are lonely, or you make the choice to dedicate the necessary time to making long lasting, strong standing, friendships. (Blog post to come on that later).

I come from a small family, and I have never experienced what it means to be a part of a big one. There have been times in my life that I have wished I had more family nearby, and moments where I have wished for bigger family gatherings. But from the lack of close family, I have learned that family is not always (only) the people who you are legally or biologically bound to. Family are the people that do life with you. Every day. The people who are with you in your times of need. The ones who listen to your venting, the folks who know that you've been sick, or who notice when you change your order at Starbucks.

My best friend on Thanksgiving sent a text in a group message that really said it all for me, she said "It's so weird that a day meant to be spent with those you love doesn't include you guys!" That's exactly it. I love the time spent with family, because we don't always get the opportunity to get all of us together! But it is important to remember what a blessing it is to have friends who are like family. Don't take the every day people for granted.

At it's most basic level, this is just another Thanksgiving-- "I am thankful for..." post; the kind that have monopolized the entire month of November. You're over it, I'm over it, we can really stop with the Facebook posts. But how about we don't stop being thankful.

With love,

xo/Austin