As Thanksgiving approaches, many normal people will look forward to their turkey dinners, a bonus meal amidst other contenders. Most midshipmen, however, simply rejoice over the thought of real, home-cooked food. They could arrive at home to find Tuesday meatloaf, and they’d be happy. Just leave an onion in the oven, Mom. I want to smell home aromas first thing.

Family. Midshipmen love family. Many mids only see their families once every few months, (if they have the ability to fly home,) so any time a mid gets to go home, Happiness increases.

Another great thing about Thanksgiving Leave is the reuniting of old high school friends. While sweating it out at the Naval Academy, the midshipmen have gained weight (mostly muscle,) gotten a little rough around the edges, and learned to perform on little sleep. They don’t seem to fit in with all of their old friends, but some remain as close as ever. Their civilian counterparts have changed, too, while at college and while working. Despite the growing differences between old friends, a midshipman looks forward to catching up *believe it or not* more than eating mashed potatoes.

Don’t forget football. Enough said.

And pumpkin pie, too.

All of these past things are amazing. A midshipman truly cherishes them all—but nothing boosts a midshipman’s Happiness more than flying home to his girlfriend. Sorry family, friends, turkey dinner, football game, and pumpkin pie; a mid’s going to forget everything: people’s names, their phone numbers, and that he told them he’d meet up on Friday. It’s not that he doesn’t care about you. He’s just isn’t aware of much. A smart girlfriend will remind her midshipman that he needs to go see people. Otherwise, he’ll forget.

How do midshipmen equate their Happiness? By simple formula. As explained on page 132 of the 2006-2007 Edition of Reef Points, (click here to learn about this book in the context of plebe summer,) the Happiness Factor is “the number of days of leave divided by the number of days until leave, an equation even the bull majors understand.”

My Happiness Factor now:

5 days of leave (although 2 of those are for travel)

1.5 days until leave

5 / 1.5 = 3.33 Happiness

This factor can be compared to my Happiness a while ago when I remember a plebe reporting that I had 79 days until Thanksgiving Leave:

5 / 79 = .063 Happiness

I have 53 times more Happiness now than I did then!