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Whether it’s a rage-fueled text you never send, a messy journal entry, or a perfectly worded op-ed, writing does more than get thoughts out of your head. It reshapes your brain — and helps you cope with stress.

According to Emily Rónay Johnston, a writing professor at the University of California, putting your feelings into words can shift your mindset from “overwhelmed” to “clear.” That mental shift is a sign of resilience — not the kind you see in motivational posters or disaster headlines, but the ordinary kind that gets people through daily life.

Psychologists define resilience as the process of adapting to life’s challenges. But popular culture often makes it seem like an elite skill — a trait reserved for the hyper-motivated or those who’ve endured massive trauma. Johnston argues that writing is one of the most overlooked ways regular people build that resilience, quietly and consistently.

Her students have shown her this for years. Over and over, she’s watched people use writing to name their pain, reflect, and eventually move forward. And there’s science to back it up.

In the 1980s, psychologist James Pennebaker pioneered a technique called “expressive writing.” It involves journaling about a painful experience for several days in a row. His research found that doing this helps people reduce stress, make sense of their feelings, and even improve their physical health.

Why does it work? Writing things down turns abstract emotions into something concrete. According to brain imaging studies, labeling emotions activates the prefrontal cortex — the part of the brain that helps with problem-solving — and calms the amygdala, which triggers the body’s stress responses. So instead of spiraling, your brain shifts from panic to problem-solving.

In short: writing helps you respond, not just react.

Even simple writing tasks like making a to-do list can help you get grounded. They activate brain areas involved in decision-making, which can restore a sense of control when life feels chaotic.

Writing also strengthens memory. By putting your experiences into words, your brain begins to consolidate those memories, giving them structure and reducing their emotional sting. It’s like moving a file from the desktop into the archives — it’s still there, but it’s no longer in the way.

That mental reorganization helps people reframe what’s happened and find meaning in it. And meaning is key to resilience.

Choosing to write, Johnston explains, is also choosing to act — to interpret, organize, and express your experience. And with that comes a sense of agency. The words themselves become proof that you’ve taken back control.

This kind of emotional regulation doesn’t require a book deal or a degree in creative writing. The everyday notes, texts, emails, letters, and journal entries people churn out are already part of the process.

If you want to write your way toward greater resilience, Johnston offers five evidence-backed strategies:

1. Write by hand
Handwriting uses more areas of the brain than typing. It slows your thinking and helps you process what you’re feeling.

2. Make it a habit
A few lines a day — what happened, what you’re feeling, what you’re planning — can help stop thoughts from endlessly looping in your mind.

3. Write before reacting
When emotions run high, pause and write first. Keeping a notebook nearby can help you reflect before responding.

4. Write a letter you’ll never send
Address it to the person or situation causing distress. You don’t have to share it — the act of writing can be enough to release the pressure.

5. Revise like a writer
When you draft and revise, you’re not just improving your writing — you’re practicing perspective-taking and building self-awareness.

Resilience isn’t always flashy. Sometimes it looks like scribbles in a notebook, a saved draft in your email, or a crumpled list of goals on your fridge. But behind those words is a brain working hard to adapt, cope, and grow.

In Johnston’s words: “The act of writing is adaptation in progress.”

Feeling Overwhelmed? Grab a Pen. Writing May Be One of the Brain's Best Tools for Resilience

People

The Princess of Wales returned to familiar ground on Nov. 27, visiting the children's mental health charity Anna Freud in London — a place she's supported for nearly a decade. This time, she brought news of a new partnership aimed at improving early support for families.

During her visit, Princess Kate announced a collaboration between Anna Freud and her own Centre for Early Childhood. The goal: to create a development program that boosts the skills of health visitors — the frontline workers who support mothers and babies in the early days after birth across the UK.

“It’s been a really important day for us at Anna Freud,” said Professor Eamon McCrory, the charity’s CEO. “The Princess met groups of parents and babies and toddlers and joined a series of discussions with experts. The theme of the day was something that is very close to her heart — the really crucial role of relationships.”

McCrory emphasized that strong relationships in childhood lay the foundation for lifelong mental and physical health. “They protect us from future mental health problems, but more importantly, they act as a springboard for lifelong health and wellbeing,” he said.

This focus on prevention — not just treatment — echoes Kate’s broader mission. Through her Centre for Early Childhood and initiatives like the Shaping Us campaign, she has been advocating for stronger support during the first five years of life, which research increasingly shows to be the most formative.

The new training program developed under the partnership will aim to better equip public health workers and early years professionals to help parents build healthy, nurturing relationships with their children from the very start.

“The Princess is continuing to build a societal narrative about the importance of childhood, of relationships and healthy development,” McCrory said. “Her work has moved to a new level where she is seeking to support the workforce, engage business leaders, and share knowledge with parents.”

During her visit, Kate joined bonding sessions with parents and toddlers, and reportedly felt right at home.

“She sat down and played with the little toddlers and babies that were visiting,” McCrory noted. “It really demonstrated her genuine interest in people and also in her view of relationships really being absolutely key for future prevention.”

The visit builds on Kate’s recent speech at the Future Workforce Summit, where she highlighted the importance of “consistent, nurturing relationships” in creating stable, grounded environments for children. That same message was echoed in her discussions at Anna Freud.

“At Anna Freud, we’ve been re-imagining mental health care for more than 70 years,” McCrory said, “but the Princess is looking forward to the future in a rapidly changing society. Her recent essay, as well as her recent talk, emphasize how we need to come together to really strengthen the bonds to help protect wellbeing and prevent mental health problems and addictions from emerging in the first place.”

Kate’s appearance is the latest step in her growing focus on early intervention and mental health — and signals a deeper investment in the professionals working to support families during those critical first moments of life.

Kate Middleton Just Launched a New Project Supporting Children's Mental Health

Gizmodo

Cats may rule the internet today, but their rise to household royalty was a lot slower than we imagined.

New genetic research suggests that domestic cats only arrived in Europe around 2,000 years ago — thousands of years later than some leading theories have claimed. The findings, published in Science, challenge the widely held belief that cats began their journey alongside humans 10,000 years ago in the Levant or spread to Europe with Neolithic farmers.

Instead, researchers found that modern domestic cats are most closely related to African wildcats, not their Levantine cousins, and that Europe’s oldest true domesticated cat DNA doesn’t appear until the first few centuries BCE.

“This makes a very strong case that domestic cats didn’t arrive in Europe until the last few thousand years,” said Jonathan Losos, an evolutionary biologist at Washington University in St. Louis, who wasn’t involved in the study.

Cracking the cat code

The study, part of the ongoing Project Felix, involved analyzing the genomes of 70 ancient cats — collected from archaeological sites across Europe, Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), and North Africa — dating from the 9th century BCE to the 19th century CE. Researchers also compared this data to the genomes of modern domestic cats and wildcats.

Their goal: build a more accurate feline family tree and pin down when domestic cats became truly distinct from their wild ancestors.

They found that older European cat remains belonged to European wildcats, Felis silvestris, and not to the African wildcat, Felis lybica, from which all domestic cats descend. Even in Turkey and Cyprus, sites long thought to be early hubs of domesticated cats, the evidence now points to wildcats or only loosely tamed animals.

The conclusion? While humans and wildcats may have coexisted for millennia, true domestication — and the spread of domestic cats — happened later than we thought.

So where did domesticated cats come from?

Researchers believe the process likely began in ancient Egypt, around 4,000 years ago, where cats were famously revered. From there, cats may have spread slowly through trade, travel, and urbanization — earning their keep as pest control and eventually evolving into human companions.

The study also cleared up a smaller mystery: cats on the island of Sardinia, long thought to be feral pets gone rogue, are in fact more closely related to North African wildcats — likely introduced independently around 2,200 years ago.

Domesticated… sort of

Unlike dogs, cats didn’t undergo radical changes in appearance or behavior. That’s part of why their timeline has been so hard to trace. Many researchers now consider cats “semi-domesticated,” with some even arguing that they chose us, rather than the other way around. They came for the mice, stayed for the leftovers — and eventually, for the naps in sunlit windows.

“Cats haven’t changed much,” said co-authors Claudio Ottoni and Marco De Martino. “So pinpointing when they actually became domestic animals is incredibly tricky.”

What’s next?

Despite the breakthrough, many questions remain. DNA from ancient Egyptian mummies could help bridge the gap — but these samples are notoriously difficult to sequence. Still, the researchers say they’re pushing ahead with plans to analyze older feline remains from North Africa and the Middle East.

“The big remaining question is when Felis catus truly emerged from Felis lybica,” Losos said. “We’ll need even older DNA to solve that.”

However and whenever it happened, the human-cat alliance seems to be one of history’s more enduring (and cuddly) partnerships. And while science may not yet have the full story, one thing’s certain: we didn’t domesticate cats. We just gave them a good reason to stick around.

Scientists Say Cats Rise to Household Royalty Was a Lot Slower Than We Imagined.

Detroit got a double dose of hometown pride this Thanksgiving.

During halftime of the Detroit Lions' game against the Green Bay Packers, fans were treated to a surprise appearance by Eminem, who joined fellow Detroit native Jack White onstage for a high-energy performance.

As White performed at Ford Field, Eminem rose from beneath the stage to roaring cheers and launched into his 2002 anthem ’Till I Collapse. The rapper, 53, is a longtime, vocal Lions superfan — and judging by the reaction in the stadium, the feeling is mutual.

Eminem’s passion for the team is well documented. After the Lions’ heartbreaking Super Bowl loss to the 49ers earlier this year, he posted on X, “So proud of the @lions. Thanks 4 an amazing season!!!! We’ll b back!!!”

He’s also joked about wanting to suit up himself. Ahead of the 2024 NFC Championship, he sent a message to head coach Dan Campbell offering his services.

“Yo, Dan, I’m reporting. I’m going to report. Third quarter,” he said in a video. “I’ll be the quarterback, the entire line, [the] offensive line. And the receiver. I will throw it to myself and score a touchdown.”

“All I need is a helmet,” he added with a grin.

Eminem has frequently been spotted at home games, but Thursday’s onstage cameo took fans by surprise — and gave Detroit something to cheer about, regardless of the scoreboard.

Jack White, no stranger to his own Detroit roots, had another proud moment recently: sharing the stage with his daughter, Scarlett, during an encore in Paris earlier this year. The 19-year-old played bass alongside her dad’s band and is quickly carving out her own musical path.

But on Thanksgiving, the spotlight was all Detroit — and two of its most iconic performers delivered.

Eminem surprises fans with halftime performance at Lions-Packers Thanksgiving Day game

Kansas City Chiefs guard Trey Smith knows what it means to fight for your dream. So does his sister, Ashley. Today, they’re both living theirs — in the NFL, together — as the league’s only active brother-sister duo.

Trey is a two-time Super Bowl champion at just 26 years old. Ashley helps run the NFL’s player engagement program, supporting athletes with resources for life both during and after football. One is pushing piles on the field. The other is helping players move forward off it.

Their path to the NFL started far from the spotlight, in Tennessee, with Saturday family football watch parties stacked with wings, nachos, and brownies.

“We knew what the plan was. We’re watching some ball,” Trey said in a recent CBS Mornings interview. “There’s no questions asked.”

“1000 percent,” Ashley added.

Growing up, Trey wanted to be just like his dad, Henry — a former football player whose name still carried weight in their hometown. “Everyone was walking around, ‘Oh, you’re Henry’s boy,’” Trey said. “I wanted to be like my dad, and I wanted to go play at the Super Bowl no matter what it cost.”

He made that promise — and another — to his mother, Dorsetta Smith, who died in 2015 from congestive heart failure. Trey was just 15. Ashley was 24.

“I wanted her to know that the dream that I had as a little boy that I told her about, I’m gonna go through with it,” Trey said. “That was the last moment I really had with my mom.”

He also promised he’d get his college degree. He did both.

Ashley calls their mother her “dream incubator.”

“We would crawl in bed and just talk with her about our goals and our dreams,” she said. “She left a legacy of faith, of love. We think about her every single day and are really just focused on honoring her memory.”

Today, Trey is one of the NFL’s top guards — drafted 226th overall in 2021, now protecting quarterback Patrick Mahomes and anchoring one of the league’s best offensive lines.

Ashley is helping shape the league’s future from a different side. Through the NFL’s player engagement program, she works with players and their families on everything from mental and physical health to financial wellness and post-career planning.

“I have my moments where I’m just like, ‘Wow, is this really our lives?’” Ashley said. “I think that is also a hope that Trey and I have — that our lives will inspire generations to come. That whoever sees this will look and say, ‘Hey, if the Smith siblings can do it, we can do it too.’”

This Thanksgiving, the Smiths are taking a moment to reflect on just how far they’ve come.

And as for what’s next? “We’re just getting started,” Ashley said.

Kansas City Siblings Make NFL History: Trey Smith Shines on Field, Ashley Empowers Off It

Good News Network

Seven years ago, Zach Zarembinski and Isabelle Richards were total strangers. They were also unconscious, in comas, lying just a few rooms apart in the same hospital.

Today, they’re engaged.

The couple from Minnesota has one of the most improbable love stories imaginable — one that started with tragedy, took years to unfold, and now includes a podcast, Hope in Healing, dedicated to helping others navigate life after trauma.

Back in 2016, Zach was 18 and playing high school football when a devastating hit left him with a traumatic brain injury. He was rushed to Regions Hospital in St. Paul and placed in a coma.

Nine days later, 16-year-old Isabelle arrived at the same hospital after a serious car crash on her way to work. She, too, was in a coma. Doctors told both families to prepare for the worst.

Zach’s mother and Isabelle’s mother found each other in the hospital’s halls, bound by fear, uncertainty — and eventually, hope.

“I remember she was laying there. She had shards of glass still in her hair and she was unconscious,” Isabelle’s mom, Esther Wilzbacher, recalled in an interview with KARE 11’s Land of 10,000 Stories.

Isabelle had part of her skull removed on the right side. Zach had the same procedure, but on the left.

Zach was the first to wake up. A few days later, he appeared at a hospital news conference — one that happened to be broadcast into Isabelle’s room. Her father and aunt saw it and felt compelled to introduce themselves.

Zach met Isabelle’s family and offered a few words of encouragement. “She’s going to be fine,” he told them. And, slowly, she was.

Once both teens were on the road to recovery, their moms arranged a dinner. They met. They talked. Then they didn’t see each other again — for six years.

That could have been the end of the story. But then came a Facebook friend request, a date, and eventually, something more.

A year of dating later, Zach returned to the very same hospital where they both once lay unconscious. In that same press conference room where he spoke as a teen, they sat together to record a new episode of their podcast. Then Zach read a Bible verse — Joel 2:25, which speaks of restoring what has been lost — followed by John 10:10.

And then he proposed.

The hospital staff who helped them both survive all those years ago were there again, this time to witness a very different kind of miracle. Isabelle said yes.

“We were partners in comas,” Zach said. “Now we’re partners in life.”

Their podcast, Hope in Healing, shares stories of recovery and resilience. But it’s their own story — of survival, second chances, and unexpected love — that might be the most remarkable of all.

They Met in a Coma. Now They’re Engaged — and Podcasting About Hope

Science Daily

Teflon, the famously tough plastic used in non-stick pans, lab gear, and electronics, has long been one of the hardest materials to recycle. But scientists in the UK say they’ve found a surprisingly simple and eco-friendly way to break it down — using just sodium metal and a bit of shaking.

The new process, developed by researchers at Newcastle University and the University of Birmingham, uses no heat, no toxic solvents, and no fancy equipment. Just mechanical movement at room temperature.

The discovery, published in The Journal of the American Chemical Society, could pave the way for recycling one of the world’s most chemically stubborn plastics while reclaiming valuable fluorine — a key ingredient in everything from toothpaste to pharmaceuticals.

Teflon’s forever problem

Teflon, or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), is prized for its resistance to heat, water, and chemicals. But that resilience comes at a cost. When it’s incinerated or landfilled, it doesn’t break down — and it can release persistent pollutants known as PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” which linger in ecosystems for decades.

“Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of Teflon are produced globally each year, and currently there are very few ways to get rid of it,” said Dr. Roly Armstrong, a chemistry lecturer at Newcastle and one of the study’s lead authors. “This process allows us to extract the fluorine and upcycle it into useful new materials.”

A cleaner, low-tech solution

Here’s how it works: Researchers placed small pieces of waste Teflon into a steel ball mill — essentially a sealed container — along with pieces of sodium metal. As the container shakes, the grinding action drives a chemical reaction between the sodium and the fluorine in the plastic. The result? Stable sodium fluoride (the same stuff used in toothpaste) and harmless carbon.

And it all happens without any high heat or toxic by-products.

“We used advanced solid-state NMR spectroscopy to look inside the reaction mixture at the atomic level,” said Dr. Dominik Kubicki, who led the NMR analysis team at Birmingham. “This allowed us to prove that the process produces clean sodium fluoride without any by-products.”

A circular future for fluorine

The team didn’t stop at toothpaste salt. They also showed that the recovered sodium fluoride can be used right away to synthesize more complex fluorinated compounds — the kinds used in medications, diagnostics, and high-performance materials.

“Fluorine is a vital element in modern life,” said Dr. Erli Lu, associate professor at Birmingham. “Yet it’s traditionally obtained through energy-intensive and polluting mining and chemical processes. Our method shows that we can recover it from everyday waste and reuse it directly.”

In short, this could be the beginning of what researchers call a circular fluorine economy — one where fluorine isn’t extracted from the earth, used once, and thrown away, but recovered and reused again and again.

Why mechanochemistry matters

The discovery also underscores the growing potential of mechanochemistry — a field that relies on mechanical energy instead of heat or solvents to drive reactions. It’s an emerging area of green chemistry that could transform how chemicals are made, recycled, and reused.

“Our approach is simple, fast, and uses inexpensive materials,” said Dr. Lu. “We hope it will inspire further work on reusing other kinds of fluorinated waste.”

As scientists race to tackle plastic waste and reduce reliance on polluting chemical processes, the idea of reclaiming valuable materials from Teflon — one of the world’s toughest plastics — with a room-temperature shake might be one of the most exciting breakthroughs yet.

“It’s a small but important step toward sustainable fluorine chemistry,” Dr. Kubicki said.

New Method Finally Makes Teflon Recyclable

ESPN

Tyrese Maxey is known for slicing through NBA defenses — not tunnels and tire jumps. But for one day, the Philadelphia 76ers star swapped his basketball sneakers for a different kind of court: a dog agility course.

Maxey appeared at the 2025 Purina Pro Plan Incredible Dog Challenge Agility Show, part of the annual National Dog Show, where he directed two dogs — Howie and Spike — through a full agility run in front of 15,000 spectators at the Kennel Club of Philadelphia.

Decked out in gray with a beanie and glasses, Maxey finished the course out of breath.

“They got me out here sweating. Like I just played a whole quarter,” he said during the NBC broadcast. “I think I’m going to stick to staying on the court.”

The NBA All-Star didn’t just show up and wing it. He asked for a full walkthrough of the course, practicing commands like “jump,” “tunnel,” and “weave” with guidance from professional trainers. The layout included tunnels, weave poles, hurdles, and a tire jump — a physical and logistical maze, even for a pro athlete.

“He wanted to do a walkthrough with the pros,” said NBC Sports producer Alexa Maremaa. “There’s only so much you can control with these dogs, so that dry run really helped him.”

This wasn’t Maxey’s first time in the agility world. In 2024, he appeared in a State Farm spot produced by The Players Tribune where he learned dog training from agility pros Perry DeWitt and Jessica Ajoux — both of whom were part of this year’s show. So when the show’s producers reached out to the Sixers about player participation, Maxey was the natural pick.

He also happens to be a dog lover, with three pups of his own, including a Cane Corso — a breed he was hoping to spot at the show. According to Maremaa, his eyes lit up when he saw the larger breeds. “He ate it up,” she said. “He’s clearly a dog lover.”

Still, the producers were nervous about putting a franchise player into a footrace with unpredictable obstacles.

“I frankly was afraid that he was going to trip and fall on the carpet,” Maremaa said. “You’re running alongside a dog and not really looking where you’re going — there’s a tunnel in your way and all this stuff.”

Maxey handled it like a pro. His first run with Howie clocked in at 41 seconds after a brief tug-of-war over a toy. His second go with Spike was smoother, ending in a respectable 30 seconds — not bad compared to the 18-21 seconds it takes seasoned trainers with their own dogs.

The segment was taped on November 16 and will air Thanksgiving Day on NBC.

While there are no confirmed plans for Maxey to return to the agility ring, his enthusiasm for the event left an impression.

“Any time you can showcase somebody who has that passion,” Maremaa said, “it’s not a bad thing.”

Tyrese Maxey Steals The Spotlight At 2025 National Dog Show

A small molecule already found in the human body may hold a powerful key to fighting Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease — and it works a bit like cheese on spaghetti.

Researchers at Switzerland’s Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) have discovered that spermine, a molecule long known to regulate key cellular functions, can help protect the brain from the buildup of harmful proteins linked to neurodegenerative disorders. Their findings, published in Nature Communications, shed new light on how the body naturally fights back against these diseases, and could pave the way for future therapies.

As people live longer, age-related diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are becoming more common. Both are driven by clumps of misfolded proteins, called amyloids, that accumulate in the brain. These long, fibrous strands damage nerve cells and, to date, no treatment can reliably prevent or remove them.

That’s where spermine comes in.

In lab experiments, researchers led by Jinghui Luo found that spermine helped clear these toxic proteins by encouraging them to stick loosely together — a process called biomolecular condensation. This clumping makes them easier to break down and recycle through autophagy, the body’s natural cellular cleanup system.

“Autophagy is more effective at handling larger protein clumps,” Luo explained. “And spermine is, so to speak, the binding agent that brings the strands together.”

Luo compared it to a familiar kitchen scene: “The spermine is like cheese that connects the long, thin noodles without gluing them together, making them easier to digest.”

The team used a combination of lab-based imaging, including a technique called SAXS scattering at PSI’s Swiss Light Source, to study the molecular behavior of spermine both in glass tubes and in live organisms. They tested its effects on C. elegans, a microscopic nematode worm commonly used in aging research. The results were striking: worms given spermine lived longer, moved better in old age, and showed stronger cellular energy activity through healthier mitochondria.

Crucially, spermine also appeared to support the immune system in clearing away the brain-damaging amyloid deposits — a major obstacle in treating Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Spermine is part of a family of molecules called polyamines, found throughout the body in cells that divide and stay active. It’s been known for over 150 years, originally identified in semen, but its full role in brain health is only now becoming clearer. Among its other jobs: helping cells regulate which genes get switched on, and assisting with cell division, movement, and death.

Previous studies hinted that spermine could protect nerve cells and reduce memory decline in older animals, but the exact mechanism hadn’t been understood — until now.

The findings don’t just help explain a natural defense system. They also raise the possibility that spermine, or similar polyamines, could be used in new treatments. Researchers caution that more work is needed to fully understand the molecule’s role, especially in humans, but the early data is promising.

Spermine may also be involved in other diseases, including cancer, and understanding its mechanisms could have broader medical value. “If we better understand the underlying processes,” Luo said, “we can cook tastier and more digestible dishes, so to speak, because then we’ll know exactly which spices, in which amounts, make the sauce especially tasty.”

Artificial intelligence is already being used to accelerate this work. By analyzing massive datasets, AI tools can help researchers find optimal combinations of polyamines and other factors that might enhance therapeutic effects. High-resolution imaging and time-resolved scattering techniques, which can monitor processes deep inside cells in real time, are also crucial.

Those technologies are only available in a handful of facilities worldwide, making PSI’s work especially important.

For now, the idea that a molecule already inside us might be harnessed to prevent or slow brain disease offers a hopeful new angle in the ongoing battle against neurodegeneration. And if Luo’s kitchen metaphor holds, future treatments might come down to finding the right recipe — one where a dash of spermine could make all the difference.

New Discovery Suggests Body's Own Molecule May Combat Alzheimer's

Delta Captain Malik Sinegal didn’t just fly a plane this Thanksgiving — he flew straight into a dream fulfilled.

In an emotional holiday moment, Sinegal surprised his grandfather, Albert Partman, by serving as the pilot on his flight — a promise he made as a little boy and finally kept.

“I’m really surprised by it,” Partman said. “I can’t be more happy for him and for me too.”

The gesture was years in the making. Sinegal credits his grandfather for helping launch his career, recalling how Partman once scraped together money the family didn’t have to buy him a flight simulator.

"To finally give that dream back to them and to show them that it paid off and thank you for believing in me — it means a lot to me," Sinegal said. "It’s just a full circle moment and I finally get to share something I love with him, for the first time."

It wasn’t just his grandfather who got to share in the milestone. Sinegal was able to fly his entire family together for the first time — a rare family reunion in the skies during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year.

They were among the estimated 81.8 million Americans hitting the road or taking to the skies this Thanksgiving, according to AAA. Sunday is expected to be the most crowded day at airports and on highways, as travelers head home and brace for another blast of winter weather.

But for one family, at least, the holidays started with something warmer — a promise kept, a dream realized, and a seat on a flight that meant far more than miles.

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