Looking back over the past years of many memorable Thanksgivings. It is easy to remember the first Thanksgiving away from home. After all the traditional family gatherings on Thanksgiving day where close family and friends get together to share thanks with each other,often leaves a void in your soul the first time you spend Thanksgiving alone.
Thanksgiving day was not meant to be spent alone. Whether it be two miles, or eight thousand miles the results are not the same. There will be a time in all our lives for first times during holidays. I am sure everyone will agree that spending any special moments during a holiday such as Thanksgiving alone, will find you depressed and separated from love ones we all hold dear to our hearts. The memories of past thanksgivings during such times, are the only things that make the holidays bearable in my book.
Being at the place you most want to be, and having so much time and distance between family and yourself can be demoralizing. It is during these times that we often reflect back on those old memories and be thankful that we have them to treasure. Being there in spirit is not the same as being there in the flesh, but things happen to us all that put obstacles in our way. Jobs, school, and relocation of our own families to knew locations, often make us have to start our own traditions during such times.
Falling prey to the depression of having to spend your first holiday alone, can and will take all the wind from your sails if you let it. A simple phone call to talk and spend time with absent family and friends can ease the voids in our lives because of separation. Using some of the old family traditions you grew up with can be applied to your own Thanksgiving spent alone. Thanksgiving traditions were started for this reason in the first place, to help us during difficult times when we find ourselves alone during the holidays.
It has been many years since my first Thanksgiving alone with my family. It has also been many years since I have been by myself during Thanksgiving after my divorce. There will be many more first in my life I am sure, but I still carry the memories of past Thanksgivings with me through my life. I apply them when ever I can to sooth and comfort me during the holidays when I feel this void coming on. It is how I cope and how I reassure myself that I will not always be alone during the holidays.