Dia de accion de gracias.....this is the phrase that the speakers of Spanish in American situations have come up with for Thanksgiving. It is popular in American and International schools in Spanish speaking countries, but not within the Latin American countries or Spain themselves. This is because the latinos really don't need a special day to give thanks; they tend to do it on a more basic level anyway. Their is a more ritual practice of slowing it down enough to say....wow, this is good and I appreciate this...whatever this is...the earth, the food, the wine, the shelter, or whatever.
Meanwhile, I listen to the news about the dude at Fort Hood who just shot and killed 13 people. I am also praying the my coworker at school whose 5 year old is has been in the hospital for four days now with a fever that will not go down.
But if we don't get anything else out of this whole economic debacle, as my friend Karen said, then we will learn to be grateful for the plentiful things that we take for granted (paraphrasing). Icing on the cake is that I am grateful for my amazing, thoughtful, and brilliant husband Kelley (anniversary Nov 17) and that my mom is getting a hip replacement soon (thank God!). I am also thankful that business may be getting a little better. Just as I am, I know that my dad, Kelley, and father in law, and my uncles are thankful for that.
Kelley and I have an ongoing conversation about living here and living there. Let's face it...there are places in the world more attractive than Hoschton, Georgia....the California coasts, St. Louis, Madrid, Santiago, the Peace Corp, wherever....but when it comes down to it I am glad to be close to home and to my family, always have been. It is lonely enough being somewhat in the spotlight now, even with family within a 10 minute drive. And if we succeed, I fear it will only get more lonely.
Lonliness is the price that we pay for ambition and talent. Because my Dad taught me this at an early age, it doesn't come as a surprise that it is true. Coincidently, he also says regularly that I am the "meanest 'white woman' in Jackson County", but that is because we believe similarly that it takes grit to be worth a damn at anything, and also his way of saying 'thanks for not being a puss' (paraphrasing, and sorry for the run-on, in case you are reading for grammar). Ambition, talent, hard work, a little luck, and the temerity to put yourself out there will make you really understand who your friends are. Even more than that, it makes you realize who your friends are not. More than anything, it makes you realize where friend crosses paths with family, when it crosses at all.
So I have mixed fealing about Thanksgiving. I have mixed feelings about the superficial nature of it. I have gotten to the point, like Kelley (who is much better that I am at focusing on what is important) that I just enjoy the good parts and ignore the rest without feeling bad about it. So overall, it is wonderful to see my grandparents and to enjoy the good parts (and there are really good parts, including the new baby) of all of the really crazy things that go on with my friends and family. Happy Turkey Day! Feliz dia de accion de gracias! L
