For as long as I can remember, or maybe for as long as I
have been watching the show F-R-I-E-N-D-S, I have wanted to spend the
Thanksgiving holiday with my friends. Not that I do not love my family and
enjoy our Thanksgiving traditions, truth be told some of them are actually my
favorites; I have just always wanted to spend the holiday a little differently.
That said, I have also always wanted to go to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day
parade in New York City.
This year all of that happened. Friendsgiving day started
early so we could get a spot on the street to watch the parade. For as exhausted and chilled as I was I could not have been happier to see the giant balloons and
floats pass by as I was standing with my friends.
The 9/11 Memorial was incredible. It is beautiful, moving,
and humbling. Being there, especially on Thanksgiving, made for some very
thankful reflections. In those moments standing there listening to the
waterfalls, reading the names inscribed on the monuments, learning about the
Survivor Tree, and remembering that day in history I was thankful to be with my
friends and to live in a nation of resilience, survival, and rebirth.
Walking
home from the memorial and passing so many people sitting and shivering on the
sidewalks I became thankful for the things I often take for granted- life’s
necessities. Knowing that I would be making and sharing food later that night
with friends old and new then made me thankful for having the means to
celebrate and to make new memories.
Friendsgiving 2014 was awesome and definitely blew that one
Thanksgiving that I had swine flu out of the water. Friendsgiving 2014 was
special and I hope to celebrate more Friendsgivings in the years to come and to make more mashed potatoes on the
floor.
