This is just my second Thanksgiving ever to spend away from my family, and oddly enough, I didn't really have any homesickness all day (sorry, Mom)! I really enjoyed figuring out the exact science to the family sweet potato souffle recipe (turns out to be not too difficult) and discovering if I actually could make a pecan pie (I can). Brian and I spent the evening with some of our friends here, and it was a fantastic time. I love holidays spent with random people from your life, and it always means so much to be included in other peoples' holidays and traditions as well.
This afternoon Brian and I helped serve Thanksgiving dinner at the church we've been attending here. The church also runs a men's shelter, and so we served those men as well as some others, and it was a great time. I have always wanted to do something like that and have never had the chance. Thanksgiving seems like such a random holiday, but I know if I was out on the streets in the cold snowy nastiness that we have had, it would mean a whole lot to be invited in for a meal and included in others' traditions.
And I have once again been humbled by all that I have been blessed with in life. I may not have a job right now, but I have a ton of stuff that I am thankful for and should be thankful for more often. I know when we have troubles we tend to get bogged down by them (or is that just me?). Sometimes it's hard to see out from behind our little wall of sorrow or stress to the true reality of how blessed we really are. I may not have a job, but I have an education that will probably help me get a great job one day. I have a wonderful family and mother who is there with cooking advice every single time I call her for help with a recipe. I have some fantastic friends, both here in Seattle and all over the country. I have a nice warm home and bed to come home to, food in my fridge, and lots of things to keep me entertained and keep my crafty hands busy. And I also have an amazing fiancee and his wonderful family that I will someday soon become a part of. I am blessed beyond belief.
And again, I'm reminded of the first Thanksgiving I spent away from home, one I hope I never forget, in a country thousands of miles away and clear on the other side of the world... Two years ago today, my Elon friends and I brought a Thanksgiving celebration to our roommates and friends at the University of Ghana. We cooked without electricity or running water and held a feast with some very American food-- turkey, dressing, jello... The works. It was an American tradition that I was truly proud to spread to my foreign friends, and as we went around the circle of us (American, Ghanaian, Swedish, and more), I got the chills big time. I hope I never forget it... So here's to a Thanksgiving as good as that and as great as many before this... May we all have a lot to be thankful for between now and next year, and may we allow ourselves to take in all of the blessings on other days besides this.
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| Me and my Ghanaian friend Sophie at Thanksgiving in 2008 |
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