Thanksgiving

            When I think of what I value, the first thing that comes to mind is family and friends.  In all honesty, they are my reason for waking up in the morning.  What would life be without the people who love and care for you?  It would be boring, bleak, and colorless, barely worth living for.  Yet I find myself thinking that time alone is also something of great importance.  Although friends and family are my top priority I also think that being away from everyone, including the people I love, is essential for my own sanity.  I spend almost my entire school day around people I enjoy talking to and being with and I come home to the same experience.  I also spend much of my time at home with my brother, a persistent seven year old who can drive me to the brink of insanity, and a grandfather whom I love dearly but needs constant assistance.  If I don’t have a moment in the day that I have to myself I tend to snap at people for even the slightest of annoyances, which isn’t how I normally am.  Although that time alone is important to me, it doesn’t even come close to how grateful I am to have such amazing friends and family by my side.

            My family and I have been very fortunate throughout this recession, and for that I am extremely thankful.  So many of my relatives and friends have suffered, most of which have had trouble pulling together dinner every night while the rest of us toss away leftovers that are still good but no one wants to eat.  I am also thankful for the life of my grandfather.  Most people his age with a skull fracture wouldn’t have made it but he still stands today, an amazing feat even if it is with assistance.  No matter how much I sometimes wish that I didn’t have to help him every time he gets up to sit at the table, I would rather have him with me than in a hole in the ground.  The health of my family is something that I’m very thankful for as well.  It’s a very rare occasion when a member of the Thomas family has anything worse than the common cold.  We have been very lucky in that regard, especially with the various diseases that circle the areas that they live in.  There’s one area that I go to every year for Thanksgiving: Vicksburg, Michigan.

            My grandparents and aunt live in a small town about thirty miles from Kalamazoo called Vicksburg.  For as long as I can remember, we have gone to my aunt’s house for Thanksgiving.  We eat turkey, mashed potatoes, rutabaga, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and stuffing.  Being the oldest under eighteen, I’m always assigned the job of watching my brother and younger cousins, who are between the ages of three and seven.  About half of the family, mostly men, watch football in the living room in the same spots every year without exception.  The remaining half each make a different dish and when everything is ready we eat in the living room with the football game on.  Ever since my youngest cousin was born on November 26, we also celebrate her birthday while everyone is together.  Normally, people stay until eleven and then leave to go to their respective houses.  My parents stay in a nearby hotel with my grandpa while my brother and I stay at my grandparent’s house until the next day when we go home.  This year’s Thanksgiving will be the same, but a few unexpected problems will arise, as per usual.  But Thanksgiving is about being with family, and that’s what I’m looking forward to most.