This year marked my first Thanksgiving apart from my family, and it was different to say the least. My family is loud, judgemental, overbearing, but loving nonetheless. There were some ups of not being around everyone… I didn’t have to defend my grades, my after college plans, or my lack of a love life to them. But, I did miss all the laughs and food we get to share. The “canceling” of Thanksgiving started when my cousin Brielle had said she did not want to be in the cold for this holiday and went to her mother’s Thanksgiving feast in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to be with the sun and the sand. Then her older brother, my eldest cousin Derek and his girlfriend Sarah followed in the Florida trend. Where then my aunt and uncle went to visit my aunts parents in Virginia. After we decided that half of the family would not be together, I decided not to waste time and money on traveling home. This Thanksgiving since we were all not together, the dynamic we have as a family is crazy. We fulfill the stereotype of a loud italian family. When we are all together everyone is screaming at each other just to try and get a word in. Each time we are all together you can feel how much fun we have, we are always laughing at something Uncle Steve says, because he can make a joke about anything. Sometimes we all sit and watch Uncle Steve perform his magic acts which are more exciting after a few glasses of wine. Not being with my family was really different and I spent it in NYC of all places, which was insane. I live on the same block that the balloons for the parade get blown up, so my block was crazy filled with people and there is a certain flow of the walking traffic and all the streets being closed off. When walking around to see the balloons, it took almost an hour to walk two blocks! The traffic around my apartment was insane, every place was packed. The morning of the parade, an even more insane time. The amount of people that were there, and trying to get to each place was astounding. On every block there were hundreds of people, they were packed into lines and groups of sorts. Each block covered—not an inch of space. We were almost two hours early. The police at the parade made it very difficult to try and cross the street and find the other people I was meeting up with.
All in all, the parade ended up being really fun. I got to hangout with some people who are really important to me and we ended up talking and enjoying the parade together.
After the parade, my friend who I was spending the day with joined me back at my apartment and we napped before we went to our dinner that we had planned. I facetimed my parents to see what was going on back at home, and my dad was still sick and my mom had to do all the Thanksgiving prep herself. We talked about how not being together was strange, but we are still thankful for all that we have. We have to be thankful that even though all our family is not together we are all healthy and all love each other.
The upside to not being with my full family was the fact that I did not have to deal with the political debate that would happen with a republican great uncle that I barely speak to. Or making small talk with some relatives that I do not know enough to have a conversation with. The first Thanksgiving I spent away from my family really made me miss them even including all their crazy antics. Being away from my parents and my grandparents really made me appreciate them more and all the great things they do for me. My family means so much to me and I hope to spend more holidays in the future with my whole family.