Before this past Thanksgiving, I had never been asked pointblank by my grandmother to defend my lack of romantic partner. Certainly my aunt has inquired if I was seeing anyone and my cousins have asked if I date, but the conversation is brief and surface-level. This past Thursday that all came to a halting stop.

After dinner, I decided to join the adult table because that's where the desserts sat. (Yes, for my 24th year of life I was assigned to sit at the kids' table, which I hereby reclaim as the millennial table.)