A new year and I'm already slacking...

Happy New Years everyone!

2010. Honestly, where are the hover-boards and such that were predicted to be around in the Back to the Future movies? Those would have come in good use once I got back to NYC last week: there were a few extra million people in the city for New Year's Eve and I have never seen so little of the pavement as I walked from the train to my restaurant. It was unbelievable, at the very least. I've never been impatient around tourists, but I seriously just wanted to maul them all down so they'd get out of my way. Definitely a new feeling to me. Life was thrown into hyperdrive as soon as I hit the pavement upon getting back and it didn't let up until I got home around 9 pm on Saturday after my third straight double. (This included one 16-hour day on New Year's Eve. In Times Square. Life. Sucks.)

There was a bright, shining few moments between all the madness:

1) After work on Wednesday, I met up with Skittles and his family for dinner. I hadn't seen him since the weekend before I moved in August and let me tell you, I think I missed this guy more than anyone. Have you ever had a friend that never really had to get to know, you just knew the minute you met that this was one person you wanted to be around for the rest of your life? (I just read that and I realize it sounds very I-like-it-so-I-should-put-a-ring-on-it.) That's exactly how it was when I met him over three years ago when he arrived at the New Guy party for Club. It seemed like he was just happy to be wherever he was. I told him while we were sitting at dinner that it was the moment I first met him outside Western Lodge that I decided I wanted him to be my Little. Quite possibly in my Top 5 Best Decisions. Which, of course, has made the last two years being away from Miami even more difficult. In that time Skittles has become Vice President of Club (a position I held four years ago), a Student Conductor, and Musical Director of Cheezies, not to mention some kind of icon around campus. (Don't deny it, dude: YOU ARE!) Seriously, everyone knows him. Anyway, dinner was great with him and, it seemed, his entire family tree. After dinner they went off to see Finian's Rainbow, which I have already seen so I opted out of it. However, we did get to meet for breakfast the next morning and got to have more time to catch up, which just made me miss having that time all the time even MORE. Oh, well. I'll see you in March, bud...

2) While Skittles and his family went to Finian's Rainbow, I made my way up to 52nd St. to see the current revival of Ragtime which has recently announced a premature closing date. The first time I saw Ragtime, I drove down to Lynchburg, VA, with my friends Charles, Charlie, and Amy to surprise Brad (all high school friends). Even at this small school with immense talent and little budget to spend on their productions, I knew this was a very special show. Cut to me losing count of how many times I was moved to tears during the nearly 3 hours I sat in the Neil Simon Theatre experiencing one of the most incredible theatrical productions I have EVER seen. Everything was great. Everyone was great. It was great. I only wish there was a word that could accurately describe how sublime this show is. The energy in the theatre was tangible just waiting for the show to start. As soon as the lights started to dim the audience erupted with cheers and applause. Each number got bigger applause than the previous one which constantly built until the end of the show. As soon as the lights blacked out for the end of the show, everyone in the theatre jumped to their feet. The cacophony of sound rose with each bow until it culminated with a sound that could only signal the entrance of a stage legend. However, instead it was a young man named Quentin Earl Darrington making his Broadway debut in the lead role of Coalhouse Walker Jr. This is a moment I will never forget for as long as I live. Mr. Darrington gives nothing short of a career-making performance and should most definitely be practicing his acceptance speeches which he is sure to make come awards seasons. This man became a star right before our eyes on the stage and even from the second-to-last row of the audience I could see the tears streaming down his face as he came up from his bow. This is what I hope to achieve: move people to the point that their reaction moves me to tears.

3) The money was good.

But now, the tourists are gone and things have already begun to normalize in life: my sleep schedule actually exists and there is no more money to be made at the restaurant, which sucks. I may be looking for more gainful employment for the next few months.

I remember thinking this week that there was so much I needed to write about in this blog, but I guess not as much as I thought. However, I would like to give a shout out to my buddy Brenton that informed me that he is an avid reader of this blog and, dude, I am so happy you do.

Happy Adventures!

25

Merry Christmas to all!

I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas with your families. I know I have.

Tuesday was the big day to fly home and it started early (7 am) in NYC and ended late (2 am) in Columbus. The day in between wasn't all that eventual since I spent most that day waiting on the standby list for any open spot on a fly into Columbus that day before I booked flight (6:30 pm). However, the time actually went by fairly quickly and I got to work on my big present for my mom. It's been a tough couple of months with me moving and my dad being out on the road with his new (now old) job. A few years back I started a tradition of buying a Nicholas Sparks book for her birthday and Christmas. So, as our current living situations have been an uneasy transitional period, I decided to read the last Nicholas Sparks book and write in it as I read it. This was anytime she read it she could feel like I was right there with her, instead of 10 hours away. Naturally, she cried and it was exactly what I was going for.

This Christmas has been pretty surreal for me. Coming home felt easier than I thought. Even as my brother drove me to our parents' house, it hadn't felt like I had been gone all that long--it actually felt like I had just made this drive within the last few days. Maybe home just never seems that far away for me? I can't deny that I have had the thought that I would like to move back, but then I remember that doing that would just be cheating myself out of what I want to do. But it is nice to know that coming home is as good as ever.

Over the last few months I've been talking about how I've working out and losing weight, but I hadn't weighed myself...only Wednesday morning. The official count of lbs. lost is a whopping 30! It was pretty nice to go through some old clothes--some I have never worn--put them on and realize they fit better than when I first bought them. So YEAH ME!

In other news, today is my birthday! That's right. The number in the title, that's my age. It doesn't feel all that bad, but then again age is just a number. Maybe 25 will be my lucky number... Stayed tuned to find out if that comes true.

Happy Adventures and Holidays!

I’ll be home for Christmas!

It’s so close I can almost taste it: the smell of the trees up in the living room, family room, and back porch; cookies and other goodies in the oven; my mom’s roast beef, meatballs, mashed potatoes (God, let there be mashed potatoes), and hor d’oeuvres of shrimp, cheese, and other delectable things.

Tomorrow is the day I board a jet plane and make my way back home for the holidays and the anticipation is killing me! Everywhere I go I am reminded of my family and of all the great things the holidays bring. The other day at work, a guest simply said “Merry Christmas” and I about burst out in tears because it made me so happy to hear those two words. Of course, part of it is the presents. Let’s face it, it’s the only time of the year I get presents, so I get just a tad bit more excited than most people for Christmas. However, more than anything, I am anxious to see my family, some that I only get to see during the holidays, and share in the traditions that we have come to enjoy for as long as we can all remember. There’s always something to look forward to because my family is so unpredictable. I have an uncle that has been known to spout out a few great one-liners over the years and they have made the holidays full of laughter. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with this year…

Sitting here in the kitchen, I’m contemplating how different it’s going to be back in Ohio: what’s actually different, how I’m different, etc. My whole definition of home is semi-in-limbo. Obviously, Ohio is where my family is and some say “Home is where they love you.” However, over the last four and a half months, I’ve felt very loved by the people I’m surrounded by. Still, others say “Home is where the heart is.” Without any doubt, this makes defining home even more difficult because I love New York and am so happy to be living here, but a part of me is still tightly tied to the comforts and ease of the Midwest. I’m actually scared to find out how I feel being home and not in the city. I’m scared I going to think I should move back to Ohio, but I know I can’t do that to myself just yet because I haven’t given an honest try at this whole big city life. It was difficult enough to leave my family and friends once, will it be just as difficult—or even more difficult—the second time around? All I know is that right now I want to see my family and friends, play with the dog, sit by the fire, admire the Winter Wonderland mantle my mom decorates every year, and listen to Christmas music while staring at the tree. Maybe home is a drug that I just need a little hit of to get over this bump in the road of withdrawal? We’ll see how I feel a week from now.

On the topic of home, I saw a very interesting movie last night: Up in the Air. The whole movie is basically about a guy that for better or worse doesn’t have a real home. He travels 300+ days out of the year and considers airports and airplanes his home. The days he isn’t traveling are miserable to him. His job is to fire people when their bosses don’t have the balls to do it themselves. He does motivational speaking engagements, as well, and doesn’t seem to have much communication with his family or even have any friends. It sounds depressing, but it’s actually pretty funny. George Clooney plays this guy without a home and he’s pretty freakin’ good in this movie. I never thought I would actually be a fan of the Clooney, but he’s grown on me over the years. His supporting cast consist of two ladies: a lover (Vera Farmiga of The Departed) and a new member of the company (Anna Kendrick of The Twilight Saga). Additionally, Jason Bateman appears as his boss. I haven’t really had the time to think about what I really feel about the movie, but my initial response has been very positive, as opposed to falling asleep during Invictus, in spite of my man-crush on Matt Damon. Either way, check out Up in the Air. I have a good feeling about this movie.

(Side note: it’s Awards Season, so expect A LOT more movie commentary to come.)

Happy Adventures and Merry Christmas!

All in the air...

Happy Monday everyone!

The official count stands at 11 days until Day-O-Presents 2009! I get really excited naturally because this is the only day out of the year that I get presents. Life can suck for some people. If any of you know how I can legally get my birthday changed to a mid-year date, let me know.

So, with the official count at 11 days, it is the Christmas season--and it is in full swing everywhere here in NYC. I haven't had a chance yet, but the tree is up and lit at Rockefeller Center. My original plan for the season was to get a good picture of myself in front of the tree and send that out as my first EVER Christmas card. As you can deduce, because you're all brilliant people, I haven't gotten around to that yet. Hopefully that'll happen in the next week or so... There's holiday music playing everywhere (even in the streets in my neighborhood, it's quite fantastical). There's a slight chill in the air, I can see my breath, nothing feels better than hot tea or cocoa, and there's oddly nothing more warm and fuzzy than that sensation you can get only at this time of year. People fill the streets with their bags of gifts bulging at all corners and when they bust, there is always someone there to help them get back on their way as quickly as possible.

It's kind of interesting to me to find that after a year that has been so full of arguing and hatred that for just a few weeks, it seems most people are a little nicer to each other, maybe a little more patient. But why wait till the end of the year to do this? Why not all year round? If I may be so bold--this may be breaking some kind of rule, but bear with me--I challenge all of you to make a constant effort during 2010 to be in the Christmas spirit the whole year. Now, of course, I can see how that may cheapen the actual season itself come this time next year, but still it seems the world is a better place when we have a little of that spirit in us. Try it. You don't have to get back to me on it, just see for yourself. "Be the change you see in the world." ~Ghandi

And on the topic of quotes, I came across this very interesting snippet from last week's episode of How I Met Your Mother:

Student #1: "Mr. Mosby, we're all scared."

Student #2: "Being scared let's you know you're on to something important."

Ted: "That's right! If you're not scared, then you're not taking a chance. And if you're not taking a chance, what the hell are you doing?"

This got me thinking like WHOA! I've gotten comfortable in my life in the last few months. Some may think that's a good thing, but I'm not scared anymore. Am I not taking chances, or am I just waiting to take those chances? This could mean so many things, and maybe I'm just writing them down here so I can look back later and think: "Oh! That's why I did that..." I don't what what "that" is right now, but I kind of have the feeling Tony has at the beginning of West Side Story when he sings "Something's Coming" (my favorite song to sing). Maybe it's about time I start taking some chances, in many ways. Maybe 2010 will be the year I begin the story I'll tell my kids about "how I met [their] mother". Maybe 2010 will be the year I get on a stage and make a name for myself. Maybe 2010 will be there year I...

Maybe I'll just save the rest of that for a later post...

So, here I sit with a hot cup of peppermint tea and I'm reminiscing on some of my previous posts, one in particular: "Who Are You?" Earlier in this post I asked about changing my birthday. Well, of course I don't mean that. It's kind of interesting how often birthdays come up in conversation and it just so turns out that I have a birthday that is quite the conversation starter. People either think being born on Christmas is awesome or awful. As most things do it has its pros and cons. However, it's one of those fun facts about me that I think make me and give me a little bit more personality. This whole idea got me thinking about whether there's actually anything I would change about myself. Physically, I would like to be in better condition, but that's in the works. Additionally, I do think the one thing I will spend some money on getting fixed once I have money would be my jaw line which jets out a bit because of my under-bite. Now, most people tell me they have never noticed it until I pointed it out, but I know it's there and it has bothered me for years. I would just prefer to have my bottom teeth sit behind my top teeth like they're suppose to. Is that so much to ask for? Maybe for Christmas Santa will bring me a hard punch to the lower jaw and I'll have to get it reset... (Santa, that is a joke, NOT a wish!)

Well, I've had a long day and have lots of things to do tomorrow, including some Christmas shopping, so I'm gonna call it a day. I hope you're all well and I hope to hear from you soon.

Happy Adventures!

Late-night-blogging

Happy Monday! (It may be Tuesday here, but it's still Monday on the time stamp of this blog...)

December is here! Christmas is so close I can barely taste it. I have bought ONE Christmas present and am thinking I already bought this person this gift before and have forgotten... That's such a weird feeling for me. I guess we'll see when the wrapping comes off the present in just 17 short days.

The last week hasn't included anything all that particularly exciting: just lots of work and not a whole lot else. My one day off consisted of working at another event. However, this was probably the high point of my week. The event was a recital for the winner of the Joy In Singing Competition, a tenor by the name of Paul Appleby. He's my age, but has the voice of seasoned professional. Seriously, I couldn't believe how precise his voice is, to say nothing of how spot on his interpretation of each word gave each phrase shape that told the story in such a profoundly moving way. I wish there were better words in the English language to describe the experience of hearing this guy sing. The reception afterward was full of people I didn't know, except Mr. Paul Sperry, Ethan's dad. Paul had Ethan contact me about this event and naturally I jumped at the chance to pour wine and see an incredible recital for free. I did meet some very interesting and active people in the singing world, maybe some good contacts when I finally get myself ready to go back out into the field... Either way, I want to pick Paul Appleby's mind about singing and music because I honestly feel like I learned so much by experiencing his recital. And to boot, he seems to be a very genuine guy--I didn't get a chance to meet him as he was bombarded by numerous patrons from the second he walked into the room to the moment he put his coat on and walked out. We'll see...

After that I did stop by work and got some dinner, then went out for my first ever La Mama margarita at Ariba Ariba with Al-Amaaanda. Holy crap! That was some damn good margarita. Naturally, there was fantastic conversation to be had, as well. **I do need to take a moment to mention my buddy Sean since I did get to spend an evening at his apartment eating sushi and pineapple while drinking and playing Kings. Thanks for a great night, Sean. We need to get back into the gym... **

Back to work today. It looks as though the work won't let up for a while. That's fine as long as I can buy some Christmas presents soon.

That's honestly all I got. Short for once. I hope you're all enjoying yourselves and maybe getting out with friends and family during this holiday season. Take care.

Happy Adventures!

It's a wonderful life

Happy Monday!

I hope this post finds you all happy, healthy, and satisfied after a wonderful Thanksgiving. As I sit here in my kitchen after one glass of wine to compliment an episode of Brothers & Sisters, I find myself content in every way. It's been nearly four months since I moved out here and somewhere I along the way I put together a life for myself. My initial feeling was that Thanksgiving was going to be incredibly difficult to go through this year not being at home with my family and doing all the normal things I usually find myself doing on that particular family-oriented day of the year. However, I found myself feeling thankful more than anything. Thankful that I am here. Thankful that I am healthy. Thankful for all the little things that make life worth living: fresh air, good food, good friends, memories, and hopes for the future.

My Thanksgiving seemed a little like it came straight out of a TV sitcom really. Not a single blood relative in the bunch, but it still felt like a gathering of family. Maybe, like I said last week, I just seem to find family wherever I am. My roommates and our guests found ways to make our lack of seating area work. We maneuvered our ways in and out of the kitchen in order to make sure everything was prepared in a timely manner that never got in the way of something having to go in or come out of the oven. We ate off Dixie plates and sat in the living room on a futon, an air chair, and various other sitting apparatuses we found in our apartment. Everyone was stuffed but still had enough room for pumpkin and apple pies. Nothing seemed to all go together, but somehow it all made for an incredibly memorable Thanksgiving.

Of course I was back at work on Friday, serving all the hungry shoppers that found their way to our restaurant among the hustle and bustle of Black Friday. Maybe it was the 9 servers that were working that day, but we didn't seem as busy as we should have been. Oh well, nothing can be done about it now. Thankfully, Missy and the fam made their way in and had lunch after doing some shopping all morning and came with tidings of great joy: they got orchestra seats to see Finian's Rainbow that night! If you've never heard of it, Finian's Rainbow is the story of an Irishman named Finian McLonergan (theatre veteran Jim Norton) that travels with his daughter Sharon (Kate Baldwin) to the fictional town of Missitucky (which apparently resides near Fort Knox). Finian has "borrowed" a pot of gold from a leprechaun named Og (Christopher Fitzgerald, Wicked's original Boq and Young Frankenstein's Igor). According to legend, if you bury gold in the shadow of Fort Knox it will multiply by exponential degrees. The little sharecropping town of Missitucky finds itself in financial squaller as it owes $115 in back taxes (this is the 40's people). The town's main-man Woody (Cheyenne Jackson) comes in to town with the money only to be told there's $65 in interest due as well. Sharon supplies the interest payment from her life savings and the town is virtually saved. Meanwhile, Og finds his way to Missitucky in search of his stolen pot of gold. Another legend tells that when a leprechaun is separated from his gold, he is slowly turned mortal. Thus, throughout the show, Og's suit gets smaller and smaller on him. There's a lot to it, including a Woody's mute sister that communicates through dance, but it was an incredibly enjoyable show. After all the rock and pop that is now on the Broadway stage, it was really nice to sit back and listen to a classic musical with a beautiful score, a fun story, and a cast full of standouts. Among those, Kate Baldwin and Christopher Fitzgerald are bound to be vying for some awards come next spring, especially the latter.

Saturday, work, work, work... (Cue song from Cinderella)

Sunday. Sunday. Sunday. Since it was Thanksgiving weekend, there were no kickball games so I had Sunday all to myself. Naturally, I decided to go see another show. Why not, right? So I got up at 7 am to get myself in line at the Schoenfeld Theatre box office to purchase a student rush ticket to see Wolverine and James Bond (read: Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig) on stage in Keith Huff's play A Steady Rain. Unfortunately, the box office didn't open until noon, so I went back home, got a bagel, and returned later. And not a minute too late. I got the LAST student ticket available for the performance. I am so glad I did. HOLY CRAP! This is a 90-minute two character play about two Chicago cops that have been best friends since "kindygarden". Throughout a series of monologues and some really well-played dialogue, these two recount the events of the previous summer. It all starts out all funny as Denny (Jackman) talks about becoming a Nielsen Ratings family and inviting Joey (Craig) to dinner to meet some women so he can finally settle down. Soon, things go a little awry and the two unfold a complex game that a cross between good cop/bad cop and a twisted whodunit. Overall, both actors leave their hearts on the stage that bears only two chairs. Sadly, the production is a strict limited engagement that ends this coming Sunday. Again, I am so glad I got to see this show before it closed.

Today, typcial Monday. Laundry, errands, lunch in Chinatown. Not a whole lot of excitement. However, my lunch with spent with the lovely Al-Amaaanda. Our conversations are always pretty interesting, but today I outlined for her the plot of the play I'm writing about my family. Suffice to say, she was very supportive and is going to hook me up with a friend of hers that is a published playwright. We'll see what happens with this. I also showed her my ideas for my stand-up act. It's not much, but I've got a rough sketch of some topics on which I want to give my own spin. I'll let you know how that goes.

Nothing else really big in other news. Just work and enjoying life. I hope to see a lot of you while I'm home in a few weeks. Let me know if you'll be in Columbus.

Happy Adventures!

Because I’m thankful

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I don’t expect any of you to actually be reading this on Thanksgiving, but I thought it would be great to post this on the actual day. While we’re all sitting down to the most incredible meal of the year, I think it’s important to think back on what the last year has brought us and how our lives have suddenly changed, for better or worse. With this thought in mind, I bring to you my List of Things I’m Thankful For in 2009:

New Year’s of 2009 was spent in Boston with one of my very best friends Mollie and her husband Adam. Mollie is one of those friends that I’m thankful for from here to eternity. It’s a very interesting situation I find myself in with this young woman: we went to high school together but have spent the last 7+ years with at least 16 hours of distance between us. During those years, we never kept in touch to the point that we knew what the other was doing on even a semi-regular basis. We may have caught up over the holidays if she spent some time back in Ohio and I wasn’t on tour with Glee Club, but for the most part we didn’t play huge parts in each other’s day-to-day life. However, she asked me to sing at her wedding and naturally I accepted and found myself in a the beautiful Harvard Chapel singing “Sunrise, Sunset” from Fiddler on the Roof and “There is Love (The Wedding Song)” by Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul, & Mary. It was a whirlwind weekend in which I didn’t get to spend too much time with Mollie. In order to kind of make up for that time, I decided to visit her after I graduated from school and take in some Northeastern winter beautifulness. When I called Mollie to let her know I had purchased my plane ticket—the first time we had actually spoken in God-knows-how-long—she didn’t pick up the phone with, “Hey Nick!” but rather “You’ll never guess what’s on the radio right now!” Naturally, I knew the answer was “Happy Holidays” which she and I danced to in Chorale for two years; it’s kind of “our song”. For this and many other reasons I am thankful for not just Mollie, but all the friends I have that I don’t need to talk to everyday or even every week or month, but whenever we can and nothing can change. You all know who you are. Thank you all for your support over the last year—it hasn’t gone unnoticed.

After returning from Boston, and subsequently 10 days in NYC, I came back to Ohio and found gainful employment back at Max & Erma’s. Much like Mollie, I basically picked right back up with this group of people that I had only worked with for a handful of months several years ago. However, this is not about them. On several different occasions when I could get out of Max & Erma’s, I was able to make some trips to Lebanon, OH, and Hurricane, WV, where I have come to know and love two groups of students that are all incredibly talented, terribly funny, and ultimately the biggest factors in making the decision to move out here difficult. Here’s why: I showed up in Lebanon in the middle of October 2008 as a student teacher and left feeling as I was a member of a huge family in this community. In January 2009 I went to Hurricane with a choreographer friend of mine to see what this show choir was all about. My job was to watch, however, by the end of the rehearsal I was kind of calling the shots and telling them what was and wasn’t working. It felt exhilarating to have the attention of these kids and they ACTUALLY LISTEN! When I returned to Lebanon in March to emcee their show choir competition, I spent some time with their show choir and the same thing happened. It was incredible. I felt accomplished, intelligent, authoritative, and—not too sound egotistical, but—powerful. It was in these moments that I knew I had actually done well in school and could be a choir director like I had been trained. However, ultimately the dreamer inside me led me out here. But I would like to take this opportunity to thank those students for proving to me that I am better than I would let myself believe. Additionally, I can’t wait to see you all again in March at Lebanon’s Second Annual Show Choir Classic—as long as they’ll have back as emcee…

More than anyone in the world, I think my decision to come out here has hurt my mom. Not that she isn’t abundantly happy for me, but it happened all of a sudden and I don’t think she was quite prepared when it happened. In the time I’ve been here, I’ve spent several hours on the phone with not only my mom, but my brother, sister, and dad. My brother Andy recently went back to school and as such we have resumed our routine of him writing a paper and me proofreading it for him and giving him a few tips for the next paper which inevitably end up there. My sister Laura is currently finishing up her last few months of cosmetology school which is becoming heavily daunting as the days wane. However, I have noticed such a huge difference in her in the last few months. Without my knowing she has grown into this incredibly independent and intelligent woman that has job offers and opportunities for a career. There are days when I regret not being around to see this change actually happen, but I’m happy to know that it’s actually taking place. My dad has recently begun trucking and while it isn’t everything he always dreamed it would be, I can tell he’s trying to make the most of it and has some pretty great stories to tell—which, in the end, is the most important part. It’s the stories you remember, not how much a certain situation sucked. My life out here would be pretty pitiful if I felt my family wasn’t doing anything back home without me. I’m thankful they are part of my life and for their (sometimes) unflinching support. I’m so proud of my family and can’t wait to see them in a month. The next few weeks are going to be so unbearably painstaking as I await that magical afternoon when I get to leave on a jet plane and get home just in time for Christmas. Please let there be snow!

While I miss my family terribly, I can’t deny that I have found myself a family here in NYC. I feel incredibly fortunate to have come across my job and I am happy to say I love my job and the people I work with. They are my best friends and the ones I get up every morning for. If I didn’t have them around at a job that while I love it causes me much undo frustration because of difficult people, I would quit. So, ladies and gentlemen of the HB, thank you for being my NYC family!

Just now I came to the realization that no matter where I am I tend to find a family of sorts: Club at Miami, the community of Lebanon, HB in NYC, etc. For this Thanksgiving, since I won’t be home, in some ways home is actually coming to me. I’m very fortunate and happy to say that my friend Missy is currently in NYC to see her son march in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with his high school marching band (a trip I made myself in high school with the same marching band). So, I guess I’m thankful for my many families!

And finally, thank you all for reading this. Here’s to the Happiest of Thanksgivings, the Merriest of Christmases, and all the best for a Fantastic New Year filled with nothing but Awesomeness!

Happy Adventures!