This Thanksgiving will be my first since moving to college. I transferred to VCU from Northern Virginia Community College in August of 2020, but I did not physically make it to campus until this semester. I have been home for several visits, but this will mark the longest one to date, and to me, this is important. These last few months have not only been about my adjusting to a new school but living away from home. As an unconventional senior, I only began experiencing dorm life for the first time this year.
I initially thought that being away from home for weeks at a time would mean experiencing frequent and deafening bouts of homesickness. Although this was the case, in the beginning, I was surprised it did not stay this way. This does not mean that I do not miss home or my family when I am away. It just means that I have crossed over into the threshold of two worlds. I’m not quite in one or the other. Naturally, I miss one when I am in the other and when I return to either one, it feels disorienting for the first day or two. Â
I surprised myself several times in realizing that it has become the new norm to not see my family every day. To not navigate the same twists and turns in my house, the familiar streets of my hometown that I used to walk every day. Between my last visit and coming home for the break, I had been in Richmond for an entire month. It was the longest period to date that I had done so. It was what my family wanted, for me to become so busy and occupied that I would not need to think so much about being away from home. The holidays would guide me back in due time.
Everyone jokes about the dryness of the turkey, the tryptophan-induced sleepy waves, and the frenzied Black Friday deals. However, there is not enough credit awarded to the special quality of Thanksgiving, the component that threads everyone’s celebrations together, regardless of whether there is green bean casserole or not: family.
This year, for me, the holidays are about spending time with the three people who have made it possible for me to be where I am now. Their choices and sacrifices have allowed me to have stories to relay, somewhere from which to come home to visit. For this, I am grateful. I have learned all over again that tradition is about returning to the same comforts, even as everything else has changed. In the unpredictable tides of circumstance, tradition and family are things worthy of cherishing.