Family members’ absences make for a melancholy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is an opportunity for people to gather and celebrate, but for those missing family members, the occasion can feel incomplete.
Though the holiday offers a chance to spend time with family and reconnect, unfortunate circumstances that are out of their control can affect the celebration.
Sophomore Emily Halverson said her father’s responsibilities as a policeman require him to serve the public that day.
“My dad is a police officer in D.C. [for the Metropolitan Police Department] and he has skipped Thanksgiving before,” Halverson said. “Thanksgiving Day is [different] without him because he is usually there making us laugh. [My family] feels empty when he has to work for long periods on holidays.”
Even when both parents are present, memories of absent relatives can have an equally large effect at the dinner table.
Sophomore Deki Gonsar said she would like to see her cousins for the holidays because they live in Canada and do not visit often.
“I miss my cousins because of their [personalities] and because they remind me of how I was [at their age],” Gonsar said. “When I visit them, they make me think about how [my life] would have ended up if my parents had stayed in Toronto and when we do get together, [we enjoy] going to the park and watching Bollywood movies.”
Freshman Nhi Nguyen said she has not seen her family that lives in Vietnam for a long time, so spending upcoming Thanksgivings with them would be special.
“Many of my family members in Vietnam I barely know because I was so young and I hope that in the future they can come to Virginia for Thanksgiving,” Nguyen said. “I miss and think about my family in Vietnam sometimes because I only have four family members here in the United States.”
Though Nguyen’s family resides in Vietnam, she said she would still like to connect with them.
“I would love to spend [Thanksgiving] with my whole family and share that experience with everyone since I don’t know them well enough,” Nguyen said. “Thanksgiving would be a great opportunity for me to get to know them better. I haven’t seen them since I was a baby. So I would love to reconnect during a time to give thanks.”