Most advice to blog writers is make sure to write consistently. As you can see, I have not written for 10 days. I could have written about Thanksgiving on Thursday or Friday, but it took me till today to really understand what happened on Thanksgiving. So without further a due, here is my blog post.

These past few weeks have been filled with death and life in my family. It is hard to deal with excitement and sadness at the same time. On top of that, Thanksgiving would be the first holiday that I would be away from my immediate family. Luckily, my aunt and uncle live out here in Seattle, so I went to their house. 

I started my day by calling my parents and then the phone was passed around my family back at home. I used to be the one who would get on the phone and talk to the family member who was away... now I was the family member that was away. The distance really hit me which was hard. On the way to my aunt and uncle's house I felt conflicted because I was missing my family at home, but excited to see some family here in Seattle. 

At the beginning of the dinner, my uncle said something that put me to ease. He said, "I lost my brother a few weeks ago. What I realized is that you do not have family, you are family [(RULE 44)]. And I am thankful to spend it with my family here." At that moment I just felt loved and welcomed. Yes, this is not my usual Thanksgiving, but I was thankful to be in a place that I am loved. 

This whole weekend I have been trying to figure out what my uncle meant. I came to the conclusion that everybody has family, but you must treasure family (RULE 45). It is really easy to not appreciate family until it is gone (RULE 46). Most people at the dinner were not related to me by blood and were friends of my aunt and uncle, but for some reason I felt that they were family. Family does not have to be by blood (RULE 47).

I have only one brother and right now he is in basic training for the Army Reserves. I can only talk to him by letter. Not being able to really talk to him a lot has been hard. I have really begun to appreciate him and treasure his friendship. This past week I really just learned a lot about family dynamics. The distance is hard, but it has helped me understand what family is and what it means. I am humbled by all the love I receive from my family. Family is important!