During one of the first weekends in October this year, my mom came to spend the weekend with me in Moscow. We went thrift shopping, explored downtown Moscow dining and spent some quality time together in the town where she also attended college years ago – we had a great time.
There had been a question on my mind for weeks that I had been nervous to ask. In a particularly good moment that weekend, I finally asked it.
Lyndsie Kiebert
How would she feel if I spent Thanksgiving away from home?
It may seem trivial to some, but I”ve never spent a major holiday without my family.
This year, I planned to fly to Nevada to spend Thanksgiving with my boyfriend, whose work schedule has him working the night shift during the week University of Idaho students get a vacation. I”d planned to make Thanksgiving dinner for breakfast when he woke up for work on the afternoon of the holiday. I love traveling and I loved the idea of being there for him. It was the perfect vacation plan.
But first, I felt like I had to run it by my mom – and I wasn”t sure how she”d react.
I”d anticipated something like, “Lyndsie Kay, you can just wait to see John during Christmas break,” or maybe, “I guess, but is it really worth it to miss Thanksgiving with your sisters?”
Instead, her response to my nervous proposal was, “That would be so fun. You should do it. Do you want me to help you find plane tickets?”
This is not to say I thought my mom would be unsupportive of my decision to stray from the traditional “Everyone-goes-to-grandpa”s” Thanksgiving. I just thought there would be some sort of resistance to spending one of my only weeks off from school anywhere but at home.
When she saw my surprise toward her reaction, she proceeded to remind me that I”m an adult.
An adult – someone who makes tough decisions, weighing the pros and cons and who ultimately has jurisdiction over how they spend their days. In this case, holidays.
I am an adult. Now that was a weird thought.
As a college student, I often feel like I”m caught in a limbo between my teen years and the prospect of adulthood. My independence has increased and my financial reliance decreased, but this transition into adulthood has not been abrupt. It comes in subtle waves – one of which is the choice to spend major holidays away from family.
So this Thanksgiving, I am lucky to have the opportunity to spend the holiday in a small Nevada town. To fly hundreds of miles with the support of my friends and family in order to be there for my boyfriend, who doesn”t even get the holiday off – it feels good.
Realizing I can make these choices and grow accordingly is gratifying. Thanksgiving is about recognizing these opportunities as the gifts that they are, and I”m pretty thankful.
Lyndsie Kiebert can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @lyndsie_kiebert