Thirty-Five Michigan Thanksgivings and One North Carolina Thanksgiving
It's Thanksgiving morning and I am grateful. The mountains outside the kitchen window are a shade of dark blue and a train whistles in the background. My husband is baking bread and the cats are waiting for him to "accidentally" drop some goodies on the floor. I am alive and I am happy. But, this Thanksgiving feels awkward and a little sad to me. This is the first Thanksgiving I will spend apart from my family. I know that I am writing from a place of privilege and luck. My husband has had to spend many Thanksgivings away from his family and in the last four years he has happily traveled with me to Michigan to spend the holidays with my family, even though he misses his family in New Jersey and New York. I know that he has sacrificed time with his family to be with me and for that I am grateful. I am lucky. When I was a kid we used to spend Thanksgiving at my great-aunt's home. We ate Thanksgiving dinner in her orange and p...