It's Thanksgiving!

Which means that I'm here to tell you about how great my life is, and how you should feel bad about yourself if your life isn't similarly great.  Don't try to deny it: that's the point of a preponderance of Thanksgiving posts.

Well not this one.  Because this Thanksgiving, I'm not in the mood for creating a list of things for which I am thankful, no matter how many articles I read about the value of "cultivating a mindset of thankfulness."  Barf.  I tried to snap myself out of it by hiding in my room all night to watch TV and eat M&Ms, but now I just have a headache.  So that didn't work.  Which actually surprises me.  Since when does socially isolating yourself and eating junk food NOT make you feel better?

I suppose I'm cranky because I know I'm in a bind.  Family holidays are always, of course, full of drama.  Given that I seem to be moving farther and farther away from home with each passing year, and given that the Friday after Thanksgiving apparently isn't a holiday anymore, it just makes less and less sense to go home.  But then I feel homesick!  The universe conspires to remind me, and all other similarly-situated people, that if you're not spending Thanksgiving with your family, well you may think you're hip and cool and have formed an alternate family or whatever the hip term is for "friends" these days, but you're actually just failing in some way.  Failing to be close enough to your family.  Failing to have started a family of your own.  Failing to be a responsible member of your family and make the trip back to see them.  Pick your fail.  It's exhausting!

So am I thankful to be spending the day with a ragtag bunch of awesome people?  Of course.  But am I also thankful for M&Ms and The X-Files?  Absolutely.