Thanksgiving.

Georgia. Home.


I've always listened to the distant chatter of people looking forward to going home and spending the week with their family who were far away from home. I've always listened to the songs that dwindle in melancholy chords and ring homesickness during the holidays, but I've never understood the meaning of their tune.


I guess I've never understood what it meant to come home.


I left for Lexington late Thursday night to drive home with Cad on Friday after he got out of class. We had a blast driving down to Georgia, cutting up, drinking cheap pumpkin cappuccinos, listening to con law as I worked on a test as we laughed and talked all the way home. We stopped about 45 minutes away from home to eat a much needed Italian meal with my parents. I swear that Cad had not even fully parked until I dashed out of the car to see them! We enjoyed a wonderful dinner, much anticipated conversation with my parents, and of course, an amazing slice of cheesecake. When we got into the car to finish our journey, our anticipation to be home was building. I cannot even explain my feelings when we hit the Georgia line. I certainly felt a rush of home that I have not ever felt before.

We went straight to Cad's house to drop him off with his stuff, which was defiantly my first feeling of finally being home! I received much anticipated hugs and exclamations of excitement from his family, which was something that I was counting down to. The feeling of 'missing' is sometimes the most difficult feeling to endure, but when you are face to face with people you cherish, every feeling of 'missing' seems to melt away.


And then there was the moment that I walked through my front door, suitcase in one hand, jacket in the other.


Home.



So, my point of all of this? This Thanksgiving, I am so thankful for being home with my family.


However, thankfulness does not stop there.


I'm thankful for my family and my family's health. My parents have been unbelievably supportive, loving, and have set amazing examples for me my entire life, and I could not be more thankful for the parents that I know as two of my best friends. I do not know what I would do without them. Also, the past few years my grandfather has been very ill, but this Thanksgiving, while he is missing half a foot and has cancer, he is back to work and as spry as a spring chicken.



I'm thankful for my Aunt who has taken me in while I finish my education at U of R. She is unbelievably loving, kind, and is a role model to me. Her generosity and humbleness (not to mention, her sense of humor) is constantly something that I seek for within myself. I am also thankful for her patience, especially following my sleepwalking incident where I apparently left the water running in the middle of the night!


I am thankful for Cadman. His love, companionship, listening ear, and ability be as goofy as I am are things that I cherish deeply. I am also thankful for his ability to teach, especially when I feel like I do not have a grasp on something that I am learning, or there is something that I am interested that he is more knowledgeable at than me. Oh, not to mention his patience with me when I go on a cleaning spree, eat all of the parmesan cheese, or am as cold as an igloo, which is 99.9% of the time.


I am thankful for the Cad's family and their continued love and support. His siblings and parents are some of the most wonderful, loving people that I know.


I am thankful for being employed at Murphy & McGonigle. I work with some of the most amazing, kind people and their knowledge of the legal profession provides me with a chance to learn something new everyday.


I am thankful for the professors that I have, Schola Cantorum, and the friends that I have made at the University of Richmond. Schola has given me the chance for an outlet, new friends, and music 3 days a week, which I seriously think that I would go crazy without. U of R is an amazing, challenging school with professors that push me further and further, and for that, I am grateful.



I am thankful for the friends that have stayed in touch from back home. I don't know what I would do without them! I am also thankful for the friends that I have made in Virginia in general and the ones that I've known before I moved up here. 


Last, but certainly not least, I am thankful for my faith and the freedom to express it. I am generally a very private person about my relationship with God, but I could not imagine not having Him in my life.  Faith is a very cherished and deep thing for me, and I am thankful for a God who understands and forgives me where I falter.



 While we look forward to the stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans, turkey (or tofurkey...just kidding), remember to be thankful for the people who surround your table, your faith, freedom, your friends, family that is not present, and blessings that you have received in your life. Make sure that the people who matter to you know it, that you never take anything for granted, and that humbleness and thankfulness is not a seasonal occurrence, but an everyday thing, even when times get hard.

Cherish the tunes of coming home for the holidays. I know that they mean more to me now than ever before. 



Happy Thanksgiving,
Sarah