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I'm heading home sometime in the next 36 hours for Thanksgiving, which is pretty much my favorite holiday of the year. There's something I've always liked about a holiday that is still a neat idea, even after it's original purpose has been thrown out the window. In theory, Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks for the good things that you have, and all that. I tend to try to do that, and reflect a bit on each year about the things in my life that are good. However, I think I'm in the minority here. Along the way, like Christmas has become a time to buy lotsa stuff, Thanksgiving has become a time to cook turkey and eat a lot, often with family and friends.
Now, where Christmas has gone the commercial route, and that bugs me sometimes, there's something I really like about getting together with family and friends to spend good time with each other. For me, Thanksgiving is a two day affair. Thursday is, of course, family time. Always interesting, often fun, sometimes perplexing, and occasionally downright annoying, Thanksgiving with the fam is not to be missed. Friday, however, I live for. It's the Day After Thanksgiving bash, a tradition that has changed over the years, but still has at it's centerpiece the bunch of my old friends getting together and enjoying each other.
Over the past few years I've gotten to really appreciate the time I spend with my friends and family at home, because I don't spend nearly as much time there as I did a few years ago. Which brings me to what I wanted to write about. God, I'm wordy.
I was thinking today about how heading home for this thanksgiving this year feels a bit different than heading home felt last year. Last year, I'd been gone from home for almost a year. However, things were really only just starting to get really interesting up here. I'd spent a lot of time home that summer, and the summer previous I was in my hometown full time. It really did feel pretty much the same, heading back home for turkey day, as it had in the past.
Things feel a little bit different now, though, one year later. It's amazing what a difference a year can make. It's now been nearly two years since I spent any time in NY on a regular basis. My life up here in MA is far far more developed than a year ago. Our once small network of friends here seems to have grown enormously, Ray has now been here for over a year, and I find myself in a band the likes of which I've never really been part of before. So, things are really good where I'm living now. There isn't really any part of me that would be looking to move back to NY, at this point.
...go home for an extended weekend to party with my dear old friends, dance, and eat and drink way too much, though? Hell, yeah! It'll be interesting to see how things feel at home later this week. I can't wait.
As for giving thanks, well I'm not sure what to do for my part, except to keep trying to be a decent, good natured person. Maybe help a little more than I hurt, day to day, you know? I certainly have enough to be thankful for, these days.
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