My Thanksgiving Post; Obviously, it's Late

I wrote a Thanksgiving post the day before Thanksgiving. Wednesday night, after nearly all the family had gone to bed, I was sitting in the kitchen in the semi-dark with sweet Simon. He was nervous, as my parents were staying elsewhere. Both of the dogs have this complex that if they are in a strange place, even if they are surrounded by people they know, they assume they will be abandoned. For example, as I was taking Zoe on a walk, I stopped by the car to find a hat and Zoe just hopped right up into the driver's seat, like, "if you are getting in this car to leave, you better bet I'm getting in first, bucko."

So anyway, I'm in the darkness with Simon, who keeps groaning and looking at me every time I move more than an inch. I just want him to go to sleep, since I got up at 6am and would also prefer to be sleeping at that moment. My phone is dead from tiny cousins trouncing my high scores at Angry Birds, but there is a yellow notepad next to me. And so I wrote this blog post on paper first. And then I couldn't upload it because my phone was picking up Canadian cell towers and I didn't have easy access to my computer. But it was a good post, and I'm well overdue for an update, so here you go. Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

"Thanksgiving Blog Post" (as it says on the top of my notes)

So apparently Thanksgiving is early this year. It's still October, right? Somehow the holidays always sneak up on us, despite the fact that Wal-Mart had Christmas trees in September.

this was on my mother's birthday, September 24

Regardless, the holidays season is here, and we are about to chow down on a lot of food. I'm very excited. I had three Thanksgivings last year in France (well, one was in England), and yet none of them felt quite right. I needed three Thanksgivings worth of food to fill the loneliness of a family holiday in a foreign country. I am an emotional eater. So this year it's a big, old family style Turkey Day. We are all up on Kelleys Island at my aunt's house, and there are 16 of us in total--4 generations, 4 kids, and 4 dogs, which is not math that adds up to 16, but whatever. My family is very spaced out age-wise, and I am the 5th-youngest in attendance this year; the next youngest is 7. Also everyone else who is older than me has kids, so I am like the lost generation at this year's Thanksgiving. I'm spending lots of QT with a variety of people, specifically ones with four legs.

Juuuuussssst kidding. It's really, actually, sincerely quite lovely. Kelleys is one of my favorite places, and it's fun hanging out with the next generation of my family, especially when they randomly declare, "you're pretty."

Of course, I have a lot to be thankful for this year. First and foremost, my health and the health of my loved ones. (And I would like to make a special addendum to the original written post, that I am thankful for those sainted people who take care of our family members as they lose their health, especially the people who do so during the holidays.) I am thankful that I am employed, and that my parents have been there for me in my quarter-life crisis transition. I am thankful to all the ears who have listened to me prattle on about my life for the past year-ish, and for those who have offered me support and advice. I am thankful to everyone who has made me feel good, welcome, and loved when I moved back to Athens, and my friendships here, both old and new. I'm thankful for the ability to feel secure enough in myself to keep searching for what will make me happy. I am thankful that I haven't made any irreversible screw ups. And finally, I am thankful for the friends I love--that I have so many of them, despite their far-flung-ed-ness, that they are they kind of people that I can call family, that they have all impacted my life and made me into the best version of myself (so far!), and, beyond all of that, that they love me back.

I hope you can all surround your self in love today: family, whether it is the kind you are born with, the kind you created, or the kind you chose, and, of course, FOOD.

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There is one demographic that I didn't thank in my hand-written blog post, and I would like to say it now: I am so very thankful for everyone who has ever read this blog. I love that you read it, and I am so humbled and happy every time anyone tells me they have read it!


Also, here are a few photos from the weekend:

the weekend was exhausting for the dogs, who did not nap at ALL, so this is what happens when our little dog gets sleepy

a Thanksgiving afternoon trip to the fishing dock

the Shirley Irene, who did an admirable job on those waves

the western arm of Kelleys Island, as seen from above on my Thanksgiving plane ride