I am Thankful for...

I suppose it isn't a tradition unique to my family, but every year at Thanksgiving, we go round the dinner table and all share something we are thankful for.  Depending on the year, it can be easier or more difficult.  Since Thursday I have been thinking of everything I am grateful for--an important thing to do, and not just once a year!--and I am overwhelmed by all of it.  All of us complain about things like mortgage payments, or electricity bills, or the rising gas prices...but shouldn't we take pause and reflect on the fact that we have a house? We have electric lights and appliances?  We have a car?


And of course our gratitude should never limit itself to material things.  I am thankful for my health; for my loving, dedicated wife; for my amazing, inteligent, gentle daughter; for the friends who surround me here and the ones I miss so dearly from back home.  I am grateful for my beautiful, fun-loving sisters and as I grow into my role as a mother and parent, I am more and more grateful for my own parents whose endless dedication in my childhood and beyond has given me the confidence to be who I am.  I am thankful for my job and especially for my wonderful boss and coworkers who make going to work fun; and I am also thankful that I can afford to work only part-time so that I can be witness to my daughter's amazing growth and development.

I complain (more than I should) about skype, or patchy internet service, but I am thankful for the technology that allows me to keep in touch with all of you--my faraway family.  I complain of the distance that separates us, but I am grateful that I have means to visit you...even if it's less frequently than I would like.

I am extremely grateful that I have wonderful people--friends and family--here in Spain with whom I can celebrate this most wonderful of American holidays.  In the ten years I have lived here, I have made nine turkeys and eaten nine feasts.  In 2008, when I was home for Thanksgiving, my friends here celebrated in my honour.  It is too easy to wallow in negativity and fall into the consumerist trap of wanting more simply to have more; which is why Thanksgiving is such a beautiful holiday.  On Thanksgiving we can step back and take stock of what really matters in our lives.  On Thanksgiving we search for even the smallest thing for which to be thankful for in the midst of what may otherwise be darkness and with our gratitude bring light into our lives. 

With a grateful heart I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!