Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving marks the 20th anniversary of me becoming a vegetarian, but this number is not that significant. It's neither here nor there; just a nice round number that makes me realize just how old I'm getting.

This Thanksgiving also marks the first Thanksgiving that I will be spending with family in, gosh, over more than a decade. Living more than 600 miles from my family for the past eight years is definitely one reason I haven't been home for Thanksgiving, but even when I lived six miles from my family, I didn't go home for Thanksgiving except for maybe once or twice since I was a teenager.

Before you think that my relationship with my parents is strained, it's not. My Mom took the opportunity to go on an annual skiing trip over the Thanksgiving holidays once we all got out of the house, but in the past few years realized she's gotten too old to ski without doing irreparable damage if she were in an accident, so started doing a traditional Thanksgiving again. And my Dad spent Thanksgiving with his wife's family. Such is the life of a child of divorced parents, although the few times I did have Thanksgiving with family back in my 20's it was with my Dad.

So, have I not experience Thanksgiving all those years? You bet not! I love all those Thanksgiving sides. And I have many good friends to thank for sharing Thanksgiving with me. Whether it was dinner with a group of friends that lived down the street, dinner with friends at school, dinner with friend's family, or even just an intimate dinner with a boyfriend, I've enjoyed a proper Thanksgiving all these years.

Not superficially sentimental, I always dread the ritual of going around the Thanksgiving table saying what you're thankful for. My mind races. I usually pick something easy and obvious like health, which I am thankful for, but, yeah, I didn't put any thought into my choice. This year, I also didn't put much thought into what I'm thankful for, but that's because it is plainly and painfully obvious.

I'm thankful for my friends. My friend's that are there when I need them. My friends that treat me like family. My friend's that share their meals with me.

Of course, I am greatly thankful that I have parents who are still alive (we're all getting so old) to spend Thanksgiving with. I'm very excited to see my family this year, but was getting a little sad to not spend Thanksgiving with friends.

It turns out, we did an early Thanksgiving with friends this year...for which I am thankful.