Thanksgiving is an interesting holiday to reflect on after
living overseas. As I sit on my couch,
waiting for the tea kettle to boil water for some chai (that’s festive,
right?), I’ve found myself thinking back over a lifetime of Thanksgivings. Allow me to let you walk down my memory lane
for a moment as I reminisce…
My first memories of Thanksgiving are from when we lived in
Western Washington. I’m sure we
celebrated it in Rwanda when I was smaller, but my first memory of the holiday
has me at 8 or 9 years old. My parents
would wake up and cook. By the time my
eyes opened, the turkey would be in the oven and the first round of dishes
would be ready to go in the dishwasher.
(I don’t know how they got all of that done so quickly…even now I’m pretty
sure they had some sort of a time-turner!)
Sometime mid-morning, my dad and one of us kids (got to have 2 people
for the HOV lane to be an option in King County) would go and get my Uncle
Steve. It would just be the four of us
and him at the table if my memory is right.
It was perfect. After our
mid-afternoon feast, we would all take naps.
At least, that was the idea.
Uncle Steve would nap on the couch while we watched Andy Griffith
episodes, and that meant his wheelchair was available for Jonathan and I to
whisk around our driveway in. Thinking
back on it, that was a most excellent way to get us out of the house while the
adults slept. Well played, parental
units…well played.
I’m sure we celebrated Thanksgiving when we lived in
Ethiopia, but I don’t remember it as clearly as those years that we lived in
Kent. Once I went to boarding school,
Thanksgiving wasn’t event spent at home.
I suppose I should feel sad about that, and I do in a way because we had
traditions that I still can’t imagine not having the memories of, but sometime
in there I think the Lord did something in my heart that I didn’t have a clue
about. He gave me a release from
traditions and societal constructs that, without which, would have made it
impossible for me to survive holidays for the next decade without tears and
sorrow. He allowed me to see that it
wasn’t about location or situation, but attitude.
Which leads me to Thanksgivings in college. When I think of the holiday, I think of
driving for hours in a minivan packed with my friends from Kenya. I think of Turkey Trots, sleeping wherever
there is a flat surface, and feasts at the homes of strangers. I think of Christmas lights and cold walks,
of BB guns being shot at each other for the sake of initiation, of hours of
intense card games, and of spoons thrown into snow.
My traditions are totally not traditional and non-repeatable. For four years, we met in small towns in Illinois
or West Virginia and made our home with friends that are and forever will be
family.
After college, Thanksgiving meant time with extended family in the Northwest and memories that I will cherish with sweet nieces and tofurkey leftovers, but those memories don’t settle in my mind like those days in college.
Now, Thanksgiving is a day of work and an incredible feast
put on by our Parent-Teacher Organization with food from around the world and so
many smiles and hugs from the moms of my precious students. We have staff feast and time together on
Wednesday night, and I’ll celebrate with other friends over the weekend, but it’s
more about an attitude of gratitude then the turkey or the after-meal
food-coma.
Today, I came home from school and took a two-hour nap. I can’t necessarily blame it on a food-coma,
but for the sake of tradition I might as well.
All that said, I’m thankful.
I’m thankful for where I live and where I’ve been. I’m thankful for friends spread far and near
that I cherish. I’m thankful for my
students and their families and the incredible blessing that it is to be a part
of their lives.
I’m also thankful for you, whoever you are and whatever you’re
up to this holiday. I’m thankful that
our lives have intersected, maybe just for a few moments or for a majority of
my 28 years. Thank you for reading to
the end this reflection of a heart in multiple places and times.
Whatever you’re up to this holiday, I pray that you and your
traditions (or lack there of) would cause you to take a moment to sit back and
be thankful.
Thanksgiving 2006 in Pekin, Illinois
Thanksgiving 2007, West Virginia
Thanksgiving 2007, West Virginia
The Fabulous Five, Thanksgiving 2008, West Virginia
