Thanksgiving

Every year Thanksgiving comes, and with it comes the turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, casseroles, and pies. Everyone says they are thankful for loved ones and their good fortune. We eat and watch football (well, in my family, we went to hockey games). We pile into bed, feeling content and warm.

This year, I’ll work all day – training young adults on the computer, reading books to children, dancing with ladies. There will be no turkey, no hockey game, no big family expressly giving thanks. Late tonight, Chris and I will eat rice and beans yet again. Nonetheless, like last year, in a lovely coincidence, I’ll spend Thanksgiving with Native Americans – Amerindians, as we say in South America. I’ll still be giving thanks for the bounty of the rainy season – our ‘summer’ – as ground provisions, bananas, and fruits are currently plentiful. And, as a personal exercise, I decided to make an articulated effort at ‘giving thanks’. So, here are the things I am thankful for this year:

1. 1. Bananas. I used to hate bananas, now I cherish them. They are the one plentiful fruit in Aishalton.

   2. Rain. Rain used to mean I had to carry an umbrella and got to wear my super cute rain boots. Now, it means we have water to drink and to clean with. It makes the earth green, waters the crops, and my personal favorite – cools the air.

   3. Friends. My friends here really aren’t other 26 year olds freshly married and decorating their homes. They are 30 year old women struggling with drunken husbands, 40 year old women trying to get a date, 50 year old women with 4 year olds, and 18 year olds with crushes. I love that friendships here are not bound by age and status.

   4. Brick oven pizza. After 2 weeks of rice, beans, and potatoes, we give in and treat ourselves. Chris has made us a brick oven on our porch. And in it, we can make pizza! Milk-powder cheese, tomato paste sauce, onions, and garlic never tasted so good!

   5. Children. Mind you they do drive me crazy some…most of the time. But they are so inspiring, so full of promise, and so darn cute.

   6. Indigenous peoples. After living with Amerindians, I am really grateful for their gracious lifestyles. They live with the land, preserve the forests, and grow their own food. The world would be a better place if more people lived like them.

   7. Aerobics. For the past 4 months, I have been meeting with a group of ladies twice a week to dance, exercise, and talk about healthy living. I had no idea how much the ladies would enjoy it, how much it would help them, or help much it would renew me.

   8. Children’s books. Who doesn’t love them – wonderful stories with beautiful illustrations, bringing smiles to children, along with literacy skills!

   9. Faith. In a world as wrought with problems as our own, it is faith and hope in a better tomorrow that keep me going.

   10. Normal colored Friday. No black Friday pressuring me to run out and spend money on plastic junk molded into various shapes that I just don't need. No holiday shopping season encouraging gross overconsumption. Hallelujah.

   Thanks.