THANKFUL FOR THE DISTANCE
T
hanksgiving is a time for food, family, fun, and of course, more food. It’s a time to reflect on what you’re thankful for and all of the good things to come out of the year. One of the most defining aspects of Thanksgiving is the time you spend with your family and other loved ones but not everyone gets the opportunity to do so, especially this year.
I am one of those people who doesn’t get the opportunity to see my family for Thanksgiving. I am an out-of-state student from Washington State and I am currently unemployed and can’t afford to make a trip home this year. At first, this didn’t really bother me. I never took into consideration my feelings regarding how important family time is during the holidays. Sometimes when things become too normal, they can begin to lose their meaning. However, as it gets closer and closer to Thanksgiving I’m starting to feel sadder and sadder about not going home this year. This year mom won’t be yelling at me to set the table, dad won’t be screaming at the TV while watching the football game, and my sister won’t be next to me talking my ear off about how excited she is to eat. This year we won’t all be sitting around the table together telling each other why we’re thankful for one another, we won’t be scarfing down our food so we can hurry and get seconds. The hardest thing to swallow is that we won’t be together. Once the reality of this started to sink in I felt a deep sense of loneliness. I had never really spent Thanksgiving without my mom’s cooking and more
importantly, without my family. I didn’t know what to do or how to feel. So I started to journal. I wrote down everything I was feeling and tried to figure out ways to make myself feel better. That’s when I realized that the answer was in front of me all along.
I should just call them. I know, crazy right, why didn’t I think of something so simple before? I suppose it was difficult for me to think clearly when I was feeling such a whirlwind of emotions. However, once I got all of my feelings out on paper, easy solutions started to come. I began to call each member of my family. At first, it was just once every few weeks but now, it’s more like twice a week. We would spend hours on the calls just catching up and it helped me to feel like I was right there with them. I began to text my family each time I thought of them just to let them know they’re on my mind. I would bring up past moments where they’ve really helped me. I reminded myself and them of how thankful I am for my family. Now, I’ll be honest I still feel pretty disappointed about not being able to go home; but increasing the amount of contact I have with them helps me feel so much better. And, while we may be apart for Thanksgiving we realized there are still ways to spend time with one another whether it be through a phone call or maybe we play a game over Zoom. There are ways to still feel connected with each other even when hundreds of thousands of miles away. There are also ways to show your gratitude for someone from afar, sending a quick text, writing a letter, saying thank you for both the big and the small things, and most importantly, not hesitating to tell them how much they mean to you. Be thankful... even if it’s from a distance.
by Deja Brumfield
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