The two weeks before Thanksgiving Break were a nightmare. I was drowning in architecture homework and stress all the way up to my eyeballs. However, my lovely neighbors across the hall from me were keeping a count down on how many days of school we had left until Thanksgiving Break. It was refreshing because when I came home late at night or in the witching hours of the morning from the studio, I could count on the sign to be there reminding me of how little time I had left before I was back at home for the week eating yummy yummy food and drinking the good ole country water.

What I was excited for and looking forward to when I got home for this Thanksgiving Break was turning onto my dirt road driveway and seeing the overhang of the trees all in different colors and knowing that I was finally home. That once inside I would see the same old thing. My mom either watching her soaps or her cooking something for when my sister and I got home while watching her soaps. Then BAM the smell from her fall scented candle would hit my nose and reminded me of how much I love fall and how much everything stays consistent even when time goes on. Then, of course, I couldn’t forget the multi-color changing pumpkin that ALWAYS sits on the fireplace because it would definitely not be fall without it.

The week will go by and I will pester my baby brother and make him drive me around the land on the four wheelers, eat a lot of mom’s home cooked meals and watch her soaps with her, watch cops with my dad, sleepovers with my sis, and don’t forget eating tons on Thanksgiving.

However, the week of thanks and giving will come to an end and I will be forced to go back to CoMo to finish out the semester. Once I get back to CoMo I will be consumed with architecture homework, lack of sleep, and dining hall food. Although Thanksgiving Break is over, it doesn’t mean that we go back into our old habits of being concerned about only ourselves. November hasn’t ended yet but it will soon. That doesn’t mean we stop being thankful. I encourage and challenged everyone to just stop and think each day about who we love, what we love doing, and about all the blessings that we are blessed with daily. That being grateful and thankful should be an everyday thing, not just a November thing.

xx M