Giving Thanks

This year at Thanksgiving, I have a host of new things to be thankful for. As always, I am thankful for my health and the health of my family. I am thankful that I can call some of the most amazing people I have ever met “friends.” I am thankful for my husband, and that we can share this amazing opportunity together. I am thankful for our happiness.

But I am also thankful for many new, different things that wouldn't have crossed my mind four months ago. Brownies, for example. You know, the chocolate dessert. Yep, I’m super thankful for those - there is something special about their chocolatly goodness that puts a smile on my face every time I eat one (plus it's one of the few desserts we have all the ingredients to make on a regular basis). Spice packets too. That little invention is something we should all be thankful for (thank you McCormicks). I’m really thankful for the Internet, and that is has allowed us to stay in touch with our friends and family, and also to keep a pulse on the world, what’s going on, to watch the election (which, btw, I’m also super thankful for). I’m thankful that bucket baths really aren’t that hard to take, that electricity isn’t as important as once thought it was, and that your hands get used to washing your clothes on a wash board. I am thankful that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I am thankful that it was 78 degrees here on Thanksgiving Day. I’m super thankful for Hank, our Country Director, sending us a turkey this weekend, and for being able to share a real Thanksgiving meal with our American and Cape Verdean friends, complete with mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, gravy, key lime pie and apple crisp. I’m thankful for the fish ladies on the corner that call me over every day to buy the catch of hte day and have forced me to learn how to cook fish in numerous ways. I am thankful for how quickly humans can adapt to new environments, to doing without, to grow. And (sorry guys) I’m pretty thankful that we’re not home right now dealing with this whole economic crisis business. Watching it from afar has been painful enough.

There are too many things to name this year, too many things to be happy about, to be thankful for. But most of all, I am thankful for all of your emails, your blog comments, your messages through our parents, your chats, your letters and your phone calls. Yesterday, to make it a true day to give thanks, Josh was able to talk to his parents and his sister, we got a letter from both my mom and Josh’s parents, and a package from Claude and Ollie – amazing. I know no one planned on all these things arriving in one day, and especially not on Thanksgiving, but what a great surprise. I am very, very thankful that we are in your thoughts, just as you are all in ours.