v-Fluence Blog

Thankful for Flexibility, Family…and Football

Thanksgiving ranks as one of my favorite holidays because it marks the official start of the holiday season and remains one holiday where tradition still matters.

For many, Thanksgiving tradition means traveling to visit family, enjoying hours-long feasts of turkey and all the trimmings, reflecting on what makes us thankful and, of course, watching plenty of football.

At v-Fluence, our flexible work environment lets my team members and me embrace all of these traditions—and do so in our own individual ways.

Growing up, I remember my family would all go over to my great aunt’s house for Thanksgiving. Cousins would fly in from Texas and Florida and we’d all eat a massive feast. After the meal, the men would either sit and watch the football game on TV or walk down to the local park to play football with all the kids. The women would either head to the park to watch and cheer our game or they might stay in, sitting in the back room chatting.

Over the years, these traditions have changed but they still live on. Instead of going to my great aunt’s house, my father’s family members now open their homes for our big Thanksgiving gathering. We still do much of the same things…eating, chatting and watching football.

As I began to prepare for Thanksgiving travel this year, I made the decision to drive the 250 miles from St. Louis to Kansas City on Sunday morning to beat the holiday traffic and rumors of mid-week snows in the Midwest.

As it turns out, my decision to leave early might have been wise. According to a recent survey by TripAdvisor 37 percent of Americans plan to travel for Thanksgiving this year. Of those, 59 percent expect to drive to their destinations, while 37 percent intend to fly. AAA motor club reports that 31.2 million Americans will travel by motor vehicle this week, an increase of 1.3 percent compared with last year, and 4.7 million Americans to travel by airplane, also up from last year.

My ability to beat the crowded highways around Thanksgiving is one of the advantages of working for v-Fluence and our company’s flexible work environment, which Christiana wrote about in [August]. While many of my friends are only able to visit with family and friends for one or two days around the holidays (if at all), I am able to leave early and stay longer. And I’m not the only v-Fluence team member who embraces this flexibility: Lance is working from Denver while staying with family; Ande is visiting her parents in Detroit; Christiana is in southern Florida and Erin will be traveling to Atlanta later in the week.

So instead of sitting in my apartment in St. Louis, I am able to spend much-needed time with my family and recuperate from strep throat, an ear infection and a sinus infection with the help of a loving mother. I’m looking forward to eating some turkey, stuffing and apple pie with my family and, of course, watching some football. And, lest I forget, I’m also looking forward to taking part in our family’s Thanksgiving night tradition of a trip to the Country Club Plaza lighting ceremony (and, boy, is it a sight to see).

So as Thanksgiving 2007 approaches, I am thankful that I work for a company that allows me to do my work, spend time with my family and take part in the traditions that make the holiday season a special time of the year.

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