For 29 years, every Thanksgiving I’ve ever had has probably been a lot like yours. You know, visit relatives, stuff your face, watch football, stuff your face again, fall asleep in the fourth quarter, refuse relatives’ requests to go line-up for Black Friday deals, find a way to stuff your face one more time, sleep for 12+ hours.
But this year there was no family time spent. There was no stuffing-of-the-face. There was no awkward small talk with relatives you see once, maybe twice a year. And there definitely wasn’t a lot of sleeping.
I did have turkey though! And potatoes(ish)….!
Yikes.
The lack of a true “feast” is because I worked for 13 hours on Thanksgiving this year – and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
You see, this year I had something completely different to be thankful for. Every year I’ve been reminded how thankful I am for being surrounded by friends and family who care about me. And that’s no different this year. I’m still thankful for them.
But when I was given an opportunity to sit in for Hal Jay & Brian Estridge and quarterback the WBAP Morning News, it was an opportunity a 29-year-old-on-his-first-fulltime-radio-job couldn’t pass up.
And man, it sure was fun. Marlee McCormick, Steve Lamb and I yukked it up, talked Thanksgiving (sorry guys, it’s stuffing, not dressing…), discussed Donald Trump’s latest cabinet picks, poked fun at President Obama’s Dad jokes, interviewed the Mayor of Fort Worth, introduced “Sid Bits” to the world, and talked Cowboys football. I even wrote a song (seriously, click this sentence!).
Then I had two hours off before making my way to Arlington to play in my party band for the Cowboys post-game party after they pulled out a close one against the Redskins (our lead singer is who you heard in that song above. Think I can sing alternative rock? Think again…).
Maybe it’s not how a typical Millennial spent Thanksgiving. After all, I didn’t complain or spend hours at a time glued to my iPhone. I was working my butt off to earn some extra Christmas-shopping money!
I’m kidding, Millennial friends… (kind of).
I did miss the traditional Thanksgiving and seeing my Mom or Dad and every other relative that comes along with it. It did feel empty not having stuffing and apple pie – my two favorite Thanksgiving staples.
But being able to work two dream jobs in the same day and get a taste of what the future (hopefully) holds for me was plenty to be thankful for.