To be thankful
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
With all the stuff that's been going on lately, the question that always comes up at this point of the year becomes especially pertinent: What do I have to be thankful for?
We didn't have a dinner this year. No big feast with a jillion people, soy-sauce-and-whiskey-marinated turkey, roasted potatoes that everyone fights over, and dubious organ-based stuffing. It was a quiet dinner, leftovers from yesterday, like any other day. We were all sitting together, though, something that in our family, is actually somewhat of a rarity.
I'm glad that things are kind of creeping towards something of an equilibrium in our family. I mean, yes, we're still in a "mourning period" from a traditional standpoint, but even so, I'm not fearing what will happen tomorrow in terms of bad things happening to our family on a whole. I'm thankful that even with my grandfather gone, the "safety" and familiarity that I feel with my family is coming back. My dad still wants his coffee untainted with sugar. My sister still checks the fridge compulsively before leaving the house. My mom still tries to be macho with her leg problems. Things are coming back to how they were. More or less.
Similarly, the feelings of loneliness (from a social standpoint, not a family one) that I've really been struggling with the last few days/weeks has been appeased a little, as I touch base with a lot of people whom I haven't heard/seen from in a long time. I had dinner with the engineer-girl clique that I spent the bulk of my undergrad career with yesterday. It's nice to know that no matter what happens, wherever we go in the future - Wall Street, Washington, Thailand, wherever - we'll find a way to get back together. They may not be with me in person, but they still have my back, wherever they may be. And now, there are still friends nearby on campus, I just need to dig a little harder than I did before to get to them. A little bit of sanity buried in there amongst all the other crazy stuff going on. I've come to rely on these few people to keep me from going crazy in an otherwise isolated school year - for that, I'm extremely grateful.
So to everyone whom I've spoken to recently, to everyone who does stupid impulsive stuff with me, and to everyone who listens to me bitch and moan about my work and classes and girl problems and whatever...
Thank you.
It's that stability in friendship that I'm thankful for. And I wouldn't trade it for anything. Good night.
With all the stuff that's been going on lately, the question that always comes up at this point of the year becomes especially pertinent: What do I have to be thankful for?
We didn't have a dinner this year. No big feast with a jillion people, soy-sauce-and-whiskey-marinated turkey, roasted potatoes that everyone fights over, and dubious organ-based stuffing. It was a quiet dinner, leftovers from yesterday, like any other day. We were all sitting together, though, something that in our family, is actually somewhat of a rarity.
I'm glad that things are kind of creeping towards something of an equilibrium in our family. I mean, yes, we're still in a "mourning period" from a traditional standpoint, but even so, I'm not fearing what will happen tomorrow in terms of bad things happening to our family on a whole. I'm thankful that even with my grandfather gone, the "safety" and familiarity that I feel with my family is coming back. My dad still wants his coffee untainted with sugar. My sister still checks the fridge compulsively before leaving the house. My mom still tries to be macho with her leg problems. Things are coming back to how they were. More or less.
Similarly, the feelings of loneliness (from a social standpoint, not a family one) that I've really been struggling with the last few days/weeks has been appeased a little, as I touch base with a lot of people whom I haven't heard/seen from in a long time. I had dinner with the engineer-girl clique that I spent the bulk of my undergrad career with yesterday. It's nice to know that no matter what happens, wherever we go in the future - Wall Street, Washington, Thailand, wherever - we'll find a way to get back together. They may not be with me in person, but they still have my back, wherever they may be. And now, there are still friends nearby on campus, I just need to dig a little harder than I did before to get to them. A little bit of sanity buried in there amongst all the other crazy stuff going on. I've come to rely on these few people to keep me from going crazy in an otherwise isolated school year - for that, I'm extremely grateful.
So to everyone whom I've spoken to recently, to everyone who does stupid impulsive stuff with me, and to everyone who listens to me bitch and moan about my work and classes and girl problems and whatever...
Thank you.
It's that stability in friendship that I'm thankful for. And I wouldn't trade it for anything. Good night.