Turkey Day: The Break Was Needed

As the semester ends papers, projects, presentations and other things seem to pile up. In midst of all that the week off for Thanksgiving was needed to catch up on sleep, assignments, and family time. 

This year even though I had a good amount of homework to do, it was really important to me that I got to see my family. I think the importance of family was made even stronger this year because of the crazy summer my family in losing people close to us back to back. But, I also think it brought both my extended and immediate family closer which was needed.

My extended family came over to my house on Thursday night around four and all the women warmed up the food and set it up in a buffet style to make it easier to move everyone out the kitchen. Before we ate dinner we all gathered to say what we were thankful for, the underlying theme was love, and my dad ended with a prayer. Then we all ate our weight in food while watching football then the fun began. After dinner there was a little bit of everything going on like: playing cards, watching TV, the younger kids were running around, and some people ended up helping me take my braids down. 

This year was different because I got to bring my boyfriend with me for my (extended/mom's) family to meet. I think two of my cousins, both male and older, didn't seemed to like the idea of a boyfriend. One of them didn't realize I was 21 when he asked my mom was I even allowed to date, which was really funny. Outside of introducing my boyfriend to everyone, the most eventful event of the night was having my cousins and mom help me take down my braids. My mom cut them while my cousins and I took them out. It was definitely a long process. 

But, the way the night ended was the best. I got a chance to spend it with my cousins, Savanna ("Vanna") and Davonte ("DJ"). The three of us were raised like siblings because we were born so close together. We slowly allowed our significant others into our group and include them in our hang out time. The three of us always decide to do something during the times our family gets together so we can just do 20-something stuff. This year we stayed up late after dinner to talk and watch movies. 

Food for thought: You can't ever take the moments you have with those you love for granted because they can become memories quickly