Holidays

A week and a half ago, I fell into another hole of sadness (a deep one, though short-lived). Over October 2nd-4th, Korea celebrated it's Thanksgiving holiday known as Chuseok. I's like to flash back here a bit.
Year 1: Chuseok marked 10 months in Korea. I spent the weekend ridiculously overdressed for my boyfriend's family get-together. It was the first time to meet all of them, and I had a great time. Played games, ate loads... basic Chuseok.
Year 2: A MN girlfriend of mine and I were invited to spend the weekend with our mutual Korean friend, Steven (Sung-Woo). And so we embarked on a three-day tour of central Korea by car. First his father's side of the family - small dinner, big lunch, ancestors' burial-site ceremonies. Then off to his mother's side of the family - HUGE dinner, games, drinking, drinking games, singing room, field-tending (traditional activity?). Decidedly more active and entertaining than the previous year.
Year 3: This year. Not having the opportunity to travel or visit friends, I was happy to relax in Daegu with DK's family again. Unfortunately, of his 4 sisters, one is living in the US now, one had just left on vacation to visit the other in the US, and the third is fighting with their mom. So we only expected one sister with her husband and 2 daughters. That would be alright, I thought. Have a good meal and see the girls... Well, the 4th sister decided not to come. And we were going to visit the fighting sister but her daughter was sick with a cold, so we couldn't even see them.

It really made me miss some good holidays I've had back home.  Like the time my aunt, uncle, dad, sister, and cousins played Cranium for hours. 
Or the other time, when my mom, dad, sister and I spent New Years Eve sticking ice in each others pajamas and throwing packing peanuts all over the house. 
Or even all the Chrismas hams that were cooked in the rotisserie at my grandpa's apartment while Becky complained about this or that. 
Aunt Nancy's jello eggs.  Ice skating in Spicer on Thanksgiving. 
Driving 4 hours to and from North Dakota in July heat, in a non-air-conditioned Jeep the age of my sister, for a box of fireworks that took half that time to shoot off. 
Or watching spectacular fireworks from the roof of someone's uncle's friend's house, overlooking the Charles and downtown Boston with my summer friends. 
Being able to see multiple fireworks displays from the dock at my aunt and uncle's lake house near the city. 
I even thought of the time I made a stellar lemon blueberry upside-down pound-cake with whipped cream all from scratch for Easter at aunt and uncle's cabin on the lake. 
All of these memories came flooding back to me while I was sitting watching TV on Chuseok in Daegu with one other person whose family wasn't even around.  Made me quite sad to think of how long it would be before I could do any those things again.

To feel better, I went into downtown to meet my other lonely, homesick foreign friends for a beer and a chat.  We hit the club and slapped a band-aid on our sadness.  It worked for long enough.  As it turned out, in practically the same moment my dad and sister were sitting in a cafe together writing me a message inviting me to spend Christmas in AZ with them this year!  So, that was the reprieve my soul needed.  Now, I'm buoyed by not only the thought of family and holidays, but also tacos, warm weather in mid-winter, shopping, and live NFL I don't have to stream on my computer.

So if you are looking forward to getting away this holiday season, keep in mind that someone in your family may just be looking forward to creating some great memories with you.  It's those memories that kept me from going crazy here last week.  Thanks, fam!