Thanksgiving is a celebration in which families partake in merriment and festivities, all the while feasting on enough turkey to make my stomach lurch. That wouldn’t be the case for me, however. On November 20th, 2015, I was seated in the back of a 2014 Chevy Malibu, twiddling earbuds between my quivering fingers to occupy my brain. For the first time, I would be meeting my boyfriend, Nick’s, entire family, and I was desperate to make a good first impression. What I didn’t know then was that family can be anyone, and an extended one would be eight hours away, preparing to embrace me with open arms. Just for future reference, Nick’s family includes his five siblings--Angela (who wouldn’t be accompanying us), Gina, Toni, Vincent, and Bill--, their significant others, and their children. The ride to Dieterich was an inconveniently long distance, perhaps, but I didn’t care; an eight hour car ride was the barrier preventing me from tarnishing my reputation with Nick’s family. By the time we’d …show more content…
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As we polished off the Thanksgiving feast, the faint shrieks of toddlers darting around the vacant nursery could be heard, Al impersonating a tremendous beast close on their tails. I smiled to myself, poking at the eggplant on my plate as I listened to them having fun together. I had a hunch that Al would make a splendid father.
On the car ride back, I sat beside Nick, chatting away about the day we shared together for the duration of our ride. Our bond grew considerably tighter that day, having showed me his hometown and the house he grew up in that morning, along with introducing me to practically his entire family. Around midnight, I was reunited with dreaded Dieterich, too exhausted to complain that I was in a town renown for its gas station. I collapsed on the couch, attempting to drown out a “Hee Haw” marathon on the television with thoughts from my day in Maryland