maybe just a little bit crazy.

I've been feeling a little mopey the last week or so.  At first I thought it was just garden-variety mid-semester tired, and then I thought it had to do with fighting off another cold.  (There seem to be a few different types of sick going around in the department--all up and down the hallway, office doors are sprouting "office hours cancelled" signs.)  As Matt and I geared up the planning for our Thanksgiving dinner, though, I started to think it might be something else.

I think I've mentioned this before, that I come from a large and close-knit family.  Family holidays in particular are major undertakings, long rambling days with a house full of people and more food than you can really keep track of.  One of the hardest things about living in California is being three thousand miles away from the big family holidays--I've made it back for Christmas once or twice, but haven't had Thanksgiving with the family since I moved out here.  We used to do an expat grad-student Thanksgiving here, a big group of us, but over the last few years everyone's started to move away, and the last few years Matt and I have been on our own.  It's fun, actually--we cook something fancy, make an all-day production out of it, or else we go out somewhere nice.  That was the plan for this year, too, and I was enjoying all the menu-planning and food shopping, but, dunno.  I've also been a little melancholy, wishing we could have a busy, noisy, bustling day. 

And now it looks like we will.

It's been kind of a crazy confluence of circumstances.  I'm not teaching on Wednesday--it's not technically a university holiday, but only three students came to lecture the day before Thanksgiving last year.  I decided months ago to not hold class that day.  Then, at more or less the last minute, Matt's work schedule got rearranged, giving him three days off right around the holiday.  The first time one of us suggested going back east for Thanksgiving, it was half-joking, but then it sounded more serious, and by the time we started checking airfares, we were just thinking that it would demonstrate to us how ridiculous the idea was.  Instead, we found flights at a good price and a good schedule--I'm still not sure how that happened.  I didn't think it was possible to buy airplane tickets one day in advance and not have to mortgage your house to afford it.  What it all comes down to, though, is that tomorrow morning I'll be on a plane heading east, and the day after I'll be in the middle of my first family Thanksgiving since 1999. 

Comments

[Dan Percival]

Hey, that's phenomenal! Have a great time.

(I know it's beside the point, but you're not alone on the seasonal malaise.)

[Marshall Perrin]

Wow, sounds like you really lucked out. Hope you and Matt have a wonderful trip back east!

...That said, you're not the only one who misses those expat grad student Thanksgiving feasts! Those were really great, and I'd love to do something like that again someday... I say, despite being in some sense personally responsible for their demise, alas. :-( But I'm thankful we had them while we did!