Ah, the holidays.
Thanksgiving has come and gone, and here I sit in a chair I purchased on Black Friday. I got a few other things (I can't list them all because they weren't all for me... ok, even if most were), but nothing Really Big (other than this chair) - I've discovered that unless you want something that's just a total steal in a Black Friday ad, you can safely get there an hour or two after opening, avoid the massive crowds and still get the vast majority of everything you went to get. I got 100% of what I wanted this morning, in fact. Now I just have to fill out the rebate forms.....
But I digress. Holidays are an odd time of year for me now, that's when it really sinks in how far I am from where I grew up. It never used to be a question of where we'd go for Thanksgiving; I'd just tag along with wherever my parents were at. Usually it was their house, occasionally it was at my brother's and I think we had it at our place once or twice, but all three "units" never lived more than an hour away from each other. Heck, once or twice we even all went out for Thanksgiving dinner, but we were still all together.
Now that we're in Florida, Beth's side of the family is around, but spread out over a lot of the state. There was some talk of having Thanksgiving down in Delray at one uncle's house, but that would have been around a 5 hour drive, and even though we were invited to stay overnight it still would have been more time driving than socializing, so we declined and started to make plans for a Thanksgiving with just the four of us. The next day, though, it was determined that a few others weren't going to be there wherever it was and it wound up being hosted at our house; that same uncle/aunt (who also has a house in Cocoa, so it wasn't that much further) and Beth's parents were here for Thanksgiving. And it was nice.
I do miss some of the 'regularity' in which I used to see my side of the family when we lived in Ohio... but having been in Florida for a year and a half now, I realize to some extent what it must have been like for Beth to not see her family for so long. We do see everyone every once in a while, but at the holidays you realize just how much you don't see them as well. Welcome to the modern world of quick, mass transportation and following the paycheck I suppose.
My other standing gripe about Florida; while I generally love Florida winters, December 25th just was no where near cold enough to feel like Christmas last year... and I don't know that it will again. I'm told I'll get used to it by some... others say they never do. I do love the rest of the Florida winters... but I miss the Ohio summer in comparison... ah well.
In the end, I suspect I'll stay at the job I have now; as messed up as some aspects of it are, it pays decently, they like me there and I feel very secure in my position and, frankly, what job isn't messed up in some aspects? I'll finish my Master's degree and job hunt again from there; unless the market in Ohio gets better I doubt I'll move back north at that time, but I may just look in that area to see what I find... who knows?
But I digress. Holidays are an odd time of year for me now, that's when it really sinks in how far I am from where I grew up. It never used to be a question of where we'd go for Thanksgiving; I'd just tag along with wherever my parents were at. Usually it was their house, occasionally it was at my brother's and I think we had it at our place once or twice, but all three "units" never lived more than an hour away from each other. Heck, once or twice we even all went out for Thanksgiving dinner, but we were still all together.
Now that we're in Florida, Beth's side of the family is around, but spread out over a lot of the state. There was some talk of having Thanksgiving down in Delray at one uncle's house, but that would have been around a 5 hour drive, and even though we were invited to stay overnight it still would have been more time driving than socializing, so we declined and started to make plans for a Thanksgiving with just the four of us. The next day, though, it was determined that a few others weren't going to be there wherever it was and it wound up being hosted at our house; that same uncle/aunt (who also has a house in Cocoa, so it wasn't that much further) and Beth's parents were here for Thanksgiving. And it was nice.
I do miss some of the 'regularity' in which I used to see my side of the family when we lived in Ohio... but having been in Florida for a year and a half now, I realize to some extent what it must have been like for Beth to not see her family for so long. We do see everyone every once in a while, but at the holidays you realize just how much you don't see them as well. Welcome to the modern world of quick, mass transportation and following the paycheck I suppose.
My other standing gripe about Florida; while I generally love Florida winters, December 25th just was no where near cold enough to feel like Christmas last year... and I don't know that it will again. I'm told I'll get used to it by some... others say they never do. I do love the rest of the Florida winters... but I miss the Ohio summer in comparison... ah well.
In the end, I suspect I'll stay at the job I have now; as messed up as some aspects of it are, it pays decently, they like me there and I feel very secure in my position and, frankly, what job isn't messed up in some aspects? I'll finish my Master's degree and job hunt again from there; unless the market in Ohio gets better I doubt I'll move back north at that time, but I may just look in that area to see what I find... who knows?
posted by Tiny at 9:50 AM
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