I just moved home to Upstate NY after a 12 year cluster in Canada. ​ When you’re young and stupid and every impulse seems like a mission from God, it’s easy to overlook the little things about ‘Home’ that make is where your heart is.

From Chicken Riggies to Utica greens, night drives with loud music to 2-day long road trips with kitschy pit stops along the way; these are some of my ‘little things’ and I missed them SO much.  This is my life again and I am so fucking grateful for it.

Diners! Who knew all those random shit hole diners would have such an effect on morale!  Ain’t nothin’ got nothin’ on 4$ greasy spoon biscuits and sausage gravy.  Want coffee included?  Diners!  Want to feel full when you’re done eating? Diners!  Want to solve your life problems with a plate of deep fried cardiac arrest? DINERS!!

Then there’s the holidays.  There is something about the quintessential road trip associated with American Thanksgiving that makes it a holiday worth looking forward to all year.

We love traveling.  My husband is a truck driver.  Why not travel across the US as a family for holidays!?  We don’t want to be sad that he can’t be home on a day we should all be together.  He works his ass off, even on holidays, to provide for our family AND YOURS and I’ll be damned if he spends another holiday alone in his fucking truck!

I write this on Thanksgiving Day.   Our first family adventure in the big truck to celebrate our homecoming and one of many new traditions we are creating.  We are driving south on a job that would have kept our family apart today.  By embracing the opportunity, we not only get to spend time together but we also get to see some beautiful countryside AND surprise visit my folks who we don’t get to hug often enough.

We ate dinner last night gazing at city lights from up on the highway and ate breakfast this morning watching an epic sunrise over mountains. We slept just fine in bunk beds and had no problem waking up to a Screaming Meanie at 5 a.m.  Stretching in fresh morning air and the feeling of total freedom was better than coffee!  The wee one and I are happy as pigs in shit to be here!

Now it is 9 a.m., the sky is clear and the sun is warm. We are passing picture fucking perfect farms full of delicious looking cows.  There are mountains in the background in every imaginable shade of blue, the wee one is staring out the back window with an adorable smile. I couldn’t ask for a better traditional American memory to have with my family and I can’t wait to make many more like it. It feels so damn good to be home again! ‘Murica!

What are you grateful for this year? What do you look forward to most next year? Share a favorite memory with me! Any topics you want me to cover in 2018?! Tell me and I will make it so!

By Ella