This week marks the celebration of the biggest gathering type holiday in America. The annual Thanksgiving Day traditions run long and deep. There’s food, family, friends, football, and gathering together to eat an abundance of dishes to celebrate an abundance of things in our lives. Yes, we have plenty. Though we often feel as though it is not enough, we have plenty. Truly.
When people ask me if I miss my home country, the US, I usually, and frankly quite truthfully, say ‘not really’. Most everything I want or need I can have here in Japan. My family is here. My life is here. I can visit.
The time I get the most nostalgic or homesick for home though is around Thanksgiving. There is so much more to it than just the food items. (I can get everything here you would see on a traditional holiday table. Well, except for the home-made pumpkin pie my step-mom makes.)
Church, family, and friends still make this time special for me and those close to me.
It’s more than food. It’s the spirit of the day. A time to reflect and be grateful.
I have many things to be grateful for in my life. It hasn’t always been that way, but it has been now for many years. I am so humbled and happy to have my life, my family, my friends, my work, and my students.
Happy Thanksgiving!
