Faux Thanksgiving, Part III

At this stage in my life, "home" can be complicated word. Is Virginia, where Michael and I both grew up, home? We make trips there every couple of months, always referring to it that way when we explain where we were to friends in New York. Many of the most important people in our lives are still in Virginia and its surrounding areas. And in some ways it has an ease of existence that I associate with being at home (i.e. cars, shopping malls, parking lots).

Until Michael and I moved in together, in our tiny and adorable apartment, Virginia was, without question, home.

But these days, as we develop more ties to the neighborhood in which we live, share more milestones here, reaffirm deeper connections with the people in our lives, home is shifting, from Virginia to New York.

Three years ago, Michael and I decided that we wanted to expand our Thanksgiving celebrations to include our New York Family - John & Anna and Ashesh & Mona. This experience - where we all come together to drink wine and eat delicious food - happens fairly regularly. As members of our New York family, they are on speed dial, and share many of our Friday and Saturday nights out and about. But it means something different to me to share a Thanksgiving meal with them. The hours of preparation for and cleaning up after, of cooking and setting off smoke detectors, of thinking about the menu and making holiday favorites, is something you don't do for just anyone. You do it for family.

This past year has been a remarkable one for us all - John & Anna got married and are now expecting a baby, Mona & Ashesh got married and moved in together, Michael and I graduated and re-entered the working world. Faux Thanksgiving III was a special night, and a chance to reaffirm what home really means to me.