Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgivings away from home are not fun.

Last year, I was able to skype with the family, but this year, the family is spread farther and wider than usual. So instead, I made jambalaya from a packet and watched Brothers and Sisters and spent the night crying while I'm packing because Kitty's going through cancer and those episodes were really hard to watch the first time and harder to watch now, when I just want to hug everyone I love. I mean, seriously, I wasn't even drinking.

On that note. Thanksgiving. I think it is such an important holiday. I try to keep a healthy perspective on my life all the time, but I know it's difficult for so many people and it is indeed quite easy to lose sight of the good in all the bad in the world.

No bad today. Only words of good and encouragement.

Today I am thankful for the opportunities I have been blessed with since the day I was told I no longer had a place somewhere I thought would always be there. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. That day opened my eyes to a world beyond the US and I stumbled across this job online as a direct result of that happenstance.

I am thankful that every step I have taken, every decision made in my life has brought me to my here and now.

I am thankful for the perspective I have gained from living over seas and the tolerance for other people's cultures and way of living that I have been blessed to experience.

I am grateful for every person I have met on my journeys near and far. You have all influenced me to be a more empathetic and understanding person.

The world is such a huge place and it can seem so daunting. But my travels have taught me that it is maybe not quite so large as we think. I can see the influence of foreign cultures everywhere and it is so important to understand just how small the internet has made the world.

Above all these things, I am thankful for my family. They are the people who have loved me since before the day I was born. My parents: who have put up with my whims and quibbles and tantrums and tears since way beyond the time it ceased being cute. My grandparents: who are the most amazing and strong people I know. My aunt and uncles: they, too, are so strong and have shown me that divorce is not the end of the world and how powerful life can be beyond something so devastating. My brother and sisters: I am not an easy person with whom to get along. I am headstrong and opionated. Bullish (an Ox, in fact). They have loved me through it all and I look forward to spending time with what I consider to be the world's best family when I get home. I have missed out on a lot since the day I left home four years ago to seek my "fortune" and I have finally realized my fortune was right in front of my face all along.

Today I am thankful to have realized that my true fortune in life was never money. Mine has always been my family and my friends and the people who have shaped me.

Today I am thankful to be going home to those people in such a short time, with the knowledge that my friends I leave behind here in Macau are never more than a heartbeat away.