As many of you know, the show "This is Us" is probably the most watched drama on television right now, (at least that's what the commercials tell me, and I agree with it). I tend to jump on the bandwagon of watching popular television shows much later than everyone else, and I recently started watching "This is Us." I finished the first season within a week and a half, but a particular episode about Thanksgiving really struck a chord with me; it taught me a lesson about how we should be viewing holidays.
In the episode entitled "Pilgrim Rick," a multitude of events taught me how we should be thankful for the people in our lives, and there should not be just one day for that. For those of you who do not watch the show, you may have no idea what I am going to talk about because the show does a lot of flashbacks and has many different characters.
In this episode, it flashes back to the Pearson family which consists of the father and mother (Jack and Rebecca) and the triplets (Kevin, Kate, and Randall, who was adopted). They are all getting ready to go to Rebecca's mother's house for Thanksgiving, but all of them seem to be dreading it because Rebecca's family tends to not get along. Rebecca becomes stressed about creating the perfect cranberry sauce that her mother cannot criticize, but ultimately drops it on the floor right before they are about to leave.
On the way there, they have car trouble and are stuck in the middle of nowhere when the car breaks down. The family has to walk about 3 miles to get to any civilization, which happens to be a sketchy looking lodge. On the walk the family discusses how tense Rebecca gets during this time of year because she hates going to see her side of the family because of the constant fighting.
When they decide to call her family and tell her about their trouble, Rebecca realizes on the phone with her mother that she's been rude to her family all day because of her own problems. She tells her mother that they are not coming, and hangs up. They end up staying in a cabin with a furnace stuck on high, and there only food is hot dogs, cheese, and crackers, but Jack, who constantly makes the most of things creates several traditions of "Pilgrim Rick," eating hot dogs with cheese and crushed crackers on them, and watching "Police Academy 3." This tradition carries on into the childrens' adulthood, featured in the flashbacks of present time in the episode.
That is what really seemed important to me. There is a family who makes the best of an unfortunate situation, and they realize that all they need is each other, and not the scene of a normal Thanksgiving. Because of that, they create new and maybe a little silly traditions. I think we all need to realize that yes we do love the idea of food bringing us together, but we should thankful for the family that is there to prepare it, and that is there for us all year round.
So while your family may stress out and be kind of short with you this Thanksgiving, remember that they're just trying to make you have the best day.
