Giving Thanks.

Thanksgiving has never been a big deal for me. Growing up, Thanksgiving always involved just my immediate family. Don't get me wrong, it was awesome, but I saw these people all the time, I was living at home, we always ate together, etc. 

Then I moved away and went to school. I missed 3 Thanksgivings in a row because I was unable to fly home. Besides, I was going to see my family in like 3 weeks for Christmas break. It didn't make sense for me to fly out twice, especially so close together. 

So now you have a background of what Thanksgiving was/is to me. Not a big deal. The older I get, the more I appreciate everyone in my family gathering together, especially since we have all gone our separate ways. And just because I am the Grinch of Thanksgiving, does not in any way mean that I am not thankful or grateful. I am well aware of what I have and I give thanks all the time, and not just once a year. 

So this year, I decided it was important to make something that was uniquely me, that was not a part of someone else in my family. Having lived in Hawaii, I decided to make a pie, inspired from a bakery on the North Shore. So Wednesday night I came home from the gym and started making my chocolate haupia pie. It was my first time ever making a pie, and for my first time, I think it turned out pretty great. It's important to incorporate something from your culture or lifestyle when gathering together with friends or family. Now that I found mine, I'm looking forward to perfecting it, and making it for whatever gatherings there might be in the future. 

So to sum up Thanksgiving 2014 in one phrase: The year I learned how to make a pie. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Corn Maze Thoughts.

We had been in the corn maze for 15 minutes. Although it was dark, you could hear people all around. Those yelling, Marco! Polo! in hopes of being reunited. The group of high school girls talking about a girl in their class and which boy they had a crush on that week. The excitement of a family finding the next clue at a fork in the maze, and once solved, would indicate whether to go right or left. The group of cousins who were loudly singing Christmas carols, while making their way through the maze. They were my least favorite to encounter. 

As we looked around, you could see a bridge that overlooked the maze with a group of kids throwing down whatever was in their pockets at those lost below. Not wanting something thrown at me, we made our way deeper into the maze. We saw those over the age of 40 with their flashlight app on, lighting their path to what they hoped was the exit. 

We wanted to continue through the corn maze in the dark, so we stopped to get some distance from the flashlight group. I took out my polaroid camera and asked my Dad to take a picture of me and my sisters. This was a moment I wanted to remember, seeing that this would be the last time the three of us would be together for a year and a half. The flash was so bright, that I saw dots for a couple of seconds as we continued our way through the maze. 

It wasn't much longer that we made it to the end and I was able to see the developed picture. I know the above picture is pixilated, but the original is perfect and hanging up in my room. Whenever I see this polaroid, I am reminded of everything that happened that night and that I love everything about October.