My Thanksgiving Break

“My first trip home of the year,” I thought to myself as I slowly got drunk at my friend Mikes house while watching Zombieland. It was the night before hittin the old dusty trail back home to Hagerstown, Maryland, and I couldn’t be happier. I kept wondering what it was gonna be like; seeing all of my old friends (who have visited home already four times by now), seeing the kids that are still in high school who think they’re my friend, visiting teachers. Then there was home; I’d get to chill, lay back in my living room recliner next to my dog and enjoy the taste of a home-cooked meal finally.

Late the next morning (2pm), my brother and I headed out. The four hour return trip home was as boring as any other drive up 81; with no XM radio or ipod, a staticy Lady Gaga and shitty list of today’s best R&B/hip-hop would have to do. Despite what seemed like an eternity, we finally arrived home around 6:30, just in time to miss the ending of the Redskins loss to the Cowboys. Home… I thought I’d be more excited when I saw it all, I thought I’d get the feeling like I was coming home from a big trip, instead it felt more like I had never left, which was a bit depressing. Nothing had changed except a new bank and a closed Starbucks. For a second I wanted to go back to Blacksburg, but then remembered all of the friends and fam I’d get to see.

First thing on my mind was food, I needed to eat. My bro and I first stopped at my dad’s house to say hi and stay for dinner and then it was off to my house. This would be the first I had gotten to see my mom’s new pad- we moved out from the place that I had grown up in earlier this year and since then have been living at my grandmas. It turned out to be a nice little townhouse about 15 minutes from town. It was quaint; a bit smaller than grandma’s place and a lot smaller than my old 3 story Victorian with room for about a family of 7 or 8. I didn’t mind too much though, I had my dog, some good eats, and my cozy bed- I had to go to the coffee shop or my dad’s house for internet though which was a drag.

I ended up sleeping in until only ten the next morning- my bro and I had to help my dad move. I hate moving with a passion; I had spent so much time moving crap to storage lockers, relative’s basements, dumps, goodwill and so on last summer and by now I was just sick of it all. So anyway, my dad used to own a furniture company (Statton Furniture) until he closed it down a couple of months ago, this company made really nice quality furniture; furniture you would see in lawyers or top-of-the-line politicians offices and dining rooms. It was expensive and heavy furniture that was spread out all throughout his house so needless to say it was quite a bitch gettin’ all of it out onto his pickup truck and across town to his new house or storage locker. Not only that, but he had heavy wood machinery waiting for us in his garage that had to be moved. After about 6 hours we called it quits for the day and headed back to mom’s place.

Not really how I had imagined the start of my first college break, moving around and all; I had imagined myself sleeping in late getting up to eat, watching a movie then sleeping again getting as much rest in as possible. Most of my friends didn’t get home until Wednesday or late Tuesday so I had time to kill, which unfortunately was translated into moving furniture with my dad which he liked to call “bonding” time. Once my friends got home I was pumped, I knew we wouldn’t do much but chill and eat pizza, talk about how life’s rough these days, maybe watch a movie or two, but I didn’t care that’s what coming home was all about.

Thanksgiving: a time for family, friends, food and football. Instead of waking up early this year to watch the parade like I normally do, I ended up sleeping in till about two o’clock and about an hour or two later I was at my grandma’s getting ready to chow down on some turkey, stuffing and much more. This week was going ridunculously fast and I didn’t like it. I quickly called up ma boy’s Steve, Charlie and Way and organized a plan to stay up all night and go shopping at around 3am; I didn’t want to just go home and chill like I would any other day, it was time I start making the most of my break, plus I wanted to get some sweet deals at Best Buy and Target. I was soon regretting I had made this decision; in fact this might have been the worst decision of my life- well, one of them. The line at Best buy was humungous and the line at Target was twice as big, by the time I found some sweet deals, the register line was already wrapping halfway around the perimeter of the store. I hid my on sale DVD’s that I didn’t want to lose behind a toaster in Best Buy, because no one’s gonna buy a toaster at Best Buy, then headed out to the mall figuring I’d come back later in the day and get the DVD’s. The mall was packed but not as packed, there weren’t a lot of things that had sweet deals and by this time the Monster energy drinks and frappuccinos were wearing off. I started to become bitter and grumpy and didn’t feel like shopping anymore. We all decided to give in and go home.

I get home and my dad call’s me… fml. “Hey I need you to help me move a little bit again, it won’t take that long, I promise.” 5 hours pass and we finally get finished moving everything in the house. I didn’t really know what to think at that time, I was too exhausted to show signs of grumpiness and hostility, so I took on the dazed and completely fried look. And then I remembered that it was Friday, “Friday already?!...” time goes so fast these days. I couldn’t think of anything but school for the next three weeks; the four tests and the finals after them. The rest of that day I attended my friends Eagle ceremony, studied chem. and did some homework. I had to wake up early again the next day to help my dad move his tools and such, after that I went home, packed and by 5 o’clock I was on my way back to VT. I guess this break was alright, wasn’t great, just alright. “Another three weeks…” I kept telling myself, “Another three weeks and it’ll all be done; I’ll be able to come home and truly enjoy a break without having to worry about tests, moving or anything.”