Thanksgiving Day. A holiday filled with family, turkey, and memories. The beginning of the holiday season and the window to winter. A time to remember what you’re thankful for and show thankfulness to those around you. A time to stuff your face without any regrets or judgment. Families gather, large and small, to savor the holiday. Thanksgiving is an easy going and warm holiday for everyone.
My Thanksgiving holiday did not happen as so, to say the least. Classes were cancelled Wednesday-Friday, so my twin and I planned on leaving early Wednesday morning to drive to Kansas. My mother, father, sister, brother-in-law, and niece were waiting in Kansas for our arrival. Without much thought, my twin and I decided to drive up on Tuesday after we ate lunch. I drove the whole three hours while Katie passed out watching Dirty Dancing on her laptop. The directions were fairly straight forward despite the few times Katie failed to check Google Maps. Besides those mishaps, I enjoyed the car drive. Upon our arrival we realized that we had both forgotten to tell our family that we would be coming a day early - surprise!
We proceeded to greet our family and throw our things in the basement. The general attention was centered around my niece and how much we missed her cute face. Not much excitement happened besides watching Friends and eating fancy grilled cheese sandwiches. My forgotten memory of future finals returned when my mother handed me a “final’s week care basket” filled with snacks. Light hearted conversations turned into my family reminding my twin and me to “drive carefully” because our niece “will want to know her aunties.” We all watched TV for the remainder of the night, and Katie and I watched Netflix when the family retired to bed. I headed to the basement to sleep on an air mattress when I encountered a dilemma. The dilemma: there was nothing to blow up the air mattress. Thus, I set a few blankets on the floor and prepared for a rough night of sleep.
It was a horrible night’s sleep. My back, shoulders and neck were in the utmost discomfort. I can hardly remember if I even fell asleep. In the morning I felt the same back pain except I now had body aches as well. I assumed it was due to my poor sleeping situation. The morning continued uneventfully with the family watching Friends and skimming through our computers. My brother arrived right around lunch in time to start making BLT’s and discussing Thanksgiving cooking plans. At this time my brother-in-law took off work early because he felt under the weather; he had symptoms of a stomach bug. A stomach bug which - I had not known - was obtained by my niece recently. Not too long after this event my sister also caught this stomach bug. They remained in bed for the remaining afternoon while my family played with my niece.
I noticed my throat had been hurting all day, but I blamed it on the dry weather affecting my allergies. After more thought I wondered if it could be strep throat; my roommate had just gotten over it a week before. I used my phone’s flashlight and a mirror to check the back of my throat and sure enough, it looked like strep throat. I would consider myself a professional at strep throat considering the fact that I’ve now had it three times since summer. I know, lucky me, right? When I told my family, they sent me to a clinic in Dillon’s grocery store. So, the present state of my family is my brother-in-law and sister with the stomach bug and me with strep throat.
I waited in the clinic until a nurse could see me. Instead of the usual pre check-up steps, she started off testing me. She could tell I pretty much had strep throat but ran a test to be sure. The nurse took the other essential check-ups: blood pressure, heart beat, temperature, etc. Throughout this process I could feel myself growing uneasy and lightheaded. She prescribed medicine and sent the form to the clinic. Just before she was going to escort me out, I felt myself on the edge of fainting. I informed her and she suggested that I lie on the floor; I did so. The nurse grabbed me a water bottle and cold rag. I was quick to mumble, “I get this feeling a lot, I’ll be fine.” After sitting on the floor for a few minutes I felt ready to stand up. This was one of the more interesting clinic stories I’ve experienced.
I only began to feel worse, and it did not help that my mother treated me like a infectious being ready to spread my virus. My mother sanitized everything I had touched or been near and refused to let me grab anything on my own. She got my dad to blow up an air mattress so that I could nap the day away. When I woke up it was around six in the evening, and my sister and her husband were still under the weather. I took my medicine, watched TV, and ended up going to bed before ten.
To my surprise, I awoke to learn that my mother caught the stomach bug. Evidently, Thanksgiving dinner would not be happening on Thanksgiving Day. My day would be spent lazing away in the house trying to find something entertaining to do. In short, my Thanksgiving Day including the following: recovering from strep throat, watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, watching Thanksgiving Friends episodes, taking a trip to Starbucks, editing a college paper, napping, and watching my niece. Not quite as eventful as Thanksgivings tend to be. Before the night ended my brother felt the effects of the stomach bug, leaving my twin and dad as the only two to not be struck with sickness.
Black Friday became our Thanksgiving Day, but it still lacked the typical holiday excitement. My brother spent all day on the couch, and we had to wait for my brother-in-law to get off of work before we finished preparing dinner. Katie and I were left to sit on the couches to eat our turkey feasts. The evening continued with pie and a quick photo shoot. Finishing our day we sat around the TV to watch The Wheel of Fortune, Shark Tank, and other favorite shows.
Our Thanksgiving appears less eventful and functional than other families’ Thanksgivings, but that isn't completely true. Thanksgiving is about being close with those you love. Thanksgiving is about taking a break to remember what you’re thankful for. Most would show an ungrateful attitude for becoming sick, but in my eyes, it reminds me of the health I obtain apart from the momentary sickness. My family can see through inconvenient times to see the more important things to be grateful for. We now have an unusual memory to hold onto forever. I am thankful for the calm and odd Thanksgiving my family was blessed with.
