This year was yet another year that I did not spend Thanksgiving with family. Not to say that my family is big on Thanksgiving, it is after all, an American holiday and we are not, in fact, American. I did not grow up eating turkey and pie and stuffing and casseroles. I did not spend time cooking with my mom, aunt, grandmother, cousin while my father, uncle, other cousin watched "football." My Thanksgiving traditions started rather "late" (read: college) and most of the time consisted of some makeshift dinner that had something stuffed (one year, we went with tomatoes). It was usually a smaller affair, but did always include pie. For three (or four?) years, it was just my sister and I (and perhaps some other lonely soul) in my apartment in Philadelphia, just being grateful to have a day off in the middle of reading season and getting to spend it with family (even if it wasn't my ENTIRE family).
However, what I like most about Thanksgiving is that we all take a moment or two from our busy lives and think about how lucky we are. Yes, things don't always go as planned, and sometimes that is a good thing and sometimes it's not. Every year has high points and low points and points in between. Nonetheless, Thanksgiving is a chance to give thanks and be grateful for all of the things that have gone our way, (or the things that didn't go our way because they opened a window, door, or opportunity to something unexpected and, perhaps, even better than what could have happened if things had gone our way). Thanksgiving is about recognizing the people who have made a difference in our lives, whether they have supported us along the way, or created an obstacle for us where we learned to be stronger and overcome. It is about remembering all things you love about your life and the moments that are actually worth remembering. It is about focusing on the positives, if only for a day.
So, I say THANK YOU to everyone who is in my life. Because of all of you I am where I am, and I am who I am.
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