Thursday Night's Essay

I never knew you could choose a family until Thursday night dinners were introduced in our house. I just always assumed the only people you could get that close to were the ones you were born with, but I realized that you can form those kinds of relationships with anyone you really click with. I think that was the key to how we all had so much fun together, we just all clicked in some way. We really were like one big group of brothers and sisters. And we were open to inviting anyone and everyone to join us when we hung out. People would pass me in the hallways and ask, “Thursdays this week?” Everyone looked forward to it, whether it was for free home cooked meals or for the sense of family they didn’t get on a normal basis, or even just to chill with an awesome group of people.

We started with just a few people and in a few months we had a record of 24 people in one sitting at dinner. As the amounts of people changed the traditions stayed the same. Every week we’d sit around and have Mario Kart tournaments on the game cube. It was amazing how with enough people, one game can never get boring. We usually spent some time outside, that many people in one basement can get a little crammed. I remember when we all piled into everyone’s cars and drove to the rope swing after dinner one summer evening. We had to help one girl Stacy duct tape her driver’s side car door back on before she could give us a ride. It would’ve been a pain in the butt, but we just all laughed together and eventually got it to work.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget the millions of memories we made those many Thursdays. The group has sort of drifted now, but we’ll always remain a family.