Kate's Happy Fun Blog

       I (along with a lot of other Uni students) lead a pretty busy life. Rushing to get ready for school every morning, 6 hours of classes each day, clubs, cross country practice, homework, spending time with my family. From the moment I emerge from my room each morning to the moment I retreat back into my room for the night, I’m surrounded by people and constantly doing SOMETHING. So as you can probably imagine, being alone in my room doing nothing is one of the few times throughout the day when I’m at peace. Calm. Safe.      But in the past year or so, it’s started to feel like even my room isn’t as peaceful as it used to be. During peak covid times, I would be in my room all day. Now I’m out and about during most of my waking hours, but when everything was online, being around people and out of the house was a rare treat. I was doing everything -- taking Zoom classes, doing homework, even eating on days when I woke up five minutes before my first ...

       A lot of my family traditions involve food. For example, every year on Christmas, I eat dinner with my extended family at my great aunt’s house. I remember watching my aunts and my grandma cooking Christmas dinner when I was younger, and I always wished I could be a part of the cooking.      Honestly, I’m not sure why I wanted to cook with them. Maybe I felt left out. I wanted to feel like I had a role in my family traditions, and by helping out with the Christmas dinner, I would be able to feel like I had a purpose. Plus, these are people that I looked up to, so I wanted to find a way to connect with them. Of course, I was still young, so there wasn’t much I could do without getting in the way or just slowing things down.       But one year, my grandma gave me a job. I helped her make a dessert we always eat with Christmas dinner. She used to tell me it was a family recipe, but I think it was just an easier version of a Char...