thankful that I can remember what a Florida sunset is like in WinterHappy Thanksgiving Everyone! This Saturday in Regensburg, Alex and I are welcomed to a Thanksgiving dinner at Christina’s for one of my favorite past times: a potluck and lots of hungry people. Otherwise, the thing about living in Germany during one of the major U.S. holidays is that I could just passively forget about it. Yes, that seems sort of odd and sad in a way. Yet for me this holiday was always laced with decisions: who to spend time with, with whom you can’t, who to avoid because so-and-so said so, and make sure you don’t say this or that. One Thanksgiving follows another, and before the same decisions arise, I keep hoping that one day all those “with whom’s” will remember why we even have this holiday. Sometimes I even need to remind myself.

On this year’s U.S. Thanksgiving, some of you maybe visiting your favorite restaurant, giving thanks that you don’t have to cook or argue who has to clean. Maybe today, you’ll be extra thankful to throw your feet up and turn on the boob tube to enjoy the broadway shows featured in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or rough up your sofa neighbor during the Lions vs. Green Bay Packers game. Maybe you are one of the lucky participating in this year’s Thanksgiving pilgrimage and spending precious time in a car, plane, or airport. Or just maybe, you are already where you want to be, getting ready to enjoy a traditional turkey dinner with family and making the effort to know your future son/daughter-in-law.

Where ever you are, whether it be Plymouth, Massachusetts, Berkeley Plantation, Virginia or Saint Augustine, Florida, and whatever you’ll be doing today, try to step back in time and remember what this day should mean as if you were learning about Thanksgiving in kindergarten for the first time. It is a time to appreciate the importance of sharing, a time to strengthen a sense of community, a time of reflection about what we’re grateful for in our lives and others’ lives, a time to celebrate family. Basically. It’s a time to be thankful.

To all those who have touched my life, I am truly thankful and know that you are in my heart. Now, be well and eat plenty!