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I don't remember what it's like to have a family dinner for Thanksgiving.
I also don't remember what it's like having holiday traditions, such as a big family dinner.
The last thing I remember about Thanksgiving was about five or six years ago, before my parents got divorced. My dad and I spent two days cooking together (and that's when I learned to make apple pie from scratch, which I baked tonight), making everything from scratch. Let's face it--boxed stuffing doesn't taste the same as homemade, right? The funny thing is...my parents invited two friends over for that Thanksgiving, as I can recall. One of my dad's coworkers and his wife. And this coworker so happened to be the man my dad was cheating on my mom with.
Yeah. That was my last "family Thanksgiving."
After my parents got divorced, we had two Thanksgivings. This was while my parents weren't on speaking terms. Then my dad went batshit crazy (surprise, surprise) and moved out of state for the first time since the divorce. My sister, my mom, and I then just kinda treated Thanksgiving as any other day. A day we all had off. My sister and I would be playing video games or something, my mom would talk on the phone or be on the computer. We would get a ham instead of turkey, because the three of us hate turkey. Great way to spend Thanksgiving, yeah?
Then last year I joined the work force. Unfortunately, working in a grocery store requires me to work holidays because of my s**t seniority. I worked Thanksgiving last year, and I'm working Thanksgiving again this year. Bye-bye, family dinner.
Every time the holidays roll around, I have to listen to everyone complain about having to spend time with family or visit grandma and grandpa and whatnot. Well, guess what? Two of my grandparents are dead, the other two live in Ohio. My grandpa doesn‘t talk to anyone in the family and, while my grandma‘s still part of the family, everyone‘s in a different state. All I have are my mom and my sister. Not even my dad lives in the same state (he and his boyfriend live in Maryland). So…please, guys. Enjoy the time you get to spend with your families. Enjoy the fact that you actually get to see them. Not all of us have that luxury, okay?
A lot of people don‘t understand how foreign this whole “family“ thing is to me. I don‘t remember what it‘s like to spend the holidays with my huge family (my dad has eight brothers and sisters, and I have more than 20 first cousins just on his side…so I really do mean HUGE). It‘s been so long since we moved away that it‘s all a faded memory. I…I‘m not used to any of this “traditional” stuff at all. Thanksgiving is just another day for me. It holds no special meaning for me anymore.
I just hope it means something to all of you, and please, don‘t let it go.
~Chibs out
 Chibi Pierceye · Tue Nov 24, 2009 @ 04:56am · 0 Comments |
