Be Thankful for What You Have

“Jordan!! Come down stairs now! Everyone is waiting for you,” my mom screams at the top of her lungs.
“Ughhhh, I hate Thanksgiving,” I mutter quietly to myself, as I force myself out of bed and down the steps to our dining room, which is filled with relatives I haven’t seen in months. I managed to fake a, “Nice to see you!” along with a joyful “Hi!” when I greeted each of my relatives, none of whom I was happy to be spending time with. 
Every Thanksgiving in my family ends the same [way] every year:  someone ends up mentioning politics, which then results in  an all out screaming match between aunts and grandfathers. On top of that, the food isn’t even worth all of the arguing! The turkey is dryer than the Sahara and the stuffing has an odd mushy texture to it. Overall, Thanksgiving sucks! 
After about 30 minutes of dinner, things start to go south when my grandfather Papa brings up the election. When I see my aunt's face start to turn more annoyed and angry, I know that she is going to blow soon. That's how I know it's the perfect time to get away. 
“Excuse me, I just have to use the restroom. I'll be back in a minute,” I say knowing full well I will not be back anytime soon. I’ve started a sort of tradition every Thanksgiving of leaving dinner early to get away from the chaos. 
This year, to distract myself from the family drama, I wanted to take the family dog Daisy for a walk.
“Daisy! Come here, let's go for a walk!” Soon after my calls for her. Daisy comes rushing towards me excited for her walk. Daisy and I walk all the way up our hill and we circle around the neighborhood. After around an hour of walking around, I can tell Daisy is ready to go home, as she looks exhausted and  pants almost like pleading for some water. I'm also getting a little tired, so we start heading back home. 
As we approach my house, I notice that a couple things seem a little different. The closer we get to my house, the more I notice that something is wrong. There aren't any cars filling up my driveway or even any parked in front of the house. I start running towards my house, as I'm concerned and questioning myself if everyone left. 
“Did we really walk for that long, Daisy?” I ask myself. 
After a couple knocks on my front door I resort to screaming “Mom!!” through our mail slot. I finally see her coming down the stairs to come let me in. As soon as she opens the door I ask “Where’d everyone go?” To which she says, “Jordan hone they all left, the dinner ended hours ago.” All I can think about is how I didn’t even get to say goodbye to my family members I won’t see until next year. My mom notices my worried expression, so she tells me, “Jordan, you should have stayed for dinner. You missed the best part, dessert!” I guess I should have stayed… Maybe I should have been more grateful to see my relatives… Maybe Thanksgiving doesn’t suck after all.