Give thanks, life is beautiful

In my family, the holidays are important. Growing up, my parents encouraged my siblings and I to be very involved. They never told us we couldn't join a new team or be in a new club. Transportation was always a puzzle and a series of carefully planned drop-offs and pick-ups, but they were champs! Essentially this meant that our family time was at a premium; we'd see each other in passing, but when the holidays came it was the perfect excuse to tell everything else, "No, this is family time."

So now, we find ourselves with the weather getting cooler and the beginning of this holiday season approaching. This will be the first time in my 22 years that I will, in fact, not be home for Christmas; or Thanksgiving, or New Year's or any of these beautiful and significant holidays. As I have said before, I have been struggling a bit with how to cope and handle my emotions during these times. I love my life here in Japan, so that helps more than anything else could. Initially I thought ignoring the days would be my best solution. Thanksgiving and Christmas are both working days for me, so I figured as long as I wasn't too conscious of the date, the holidays would pass right by and I would be okay. I should have known, that is just a silly idea. There is no way I can ignore such holidays with having to teach culture lessons about them and talking to family and friends often about vacations and plans.

So I decided to embrace Thanksgiving - and while I don't cook - I invited some friends and we celebrated by going to dinner and just enjoying one another's company. So Emily, Anna, Jason, Chika and I piled into my awesome van, and ventured out to my favorite restaurant here for some laughs and story telling. It was a lot of fun to hear about the traditions of everyone else's family. That is truly the coolest thing about America; not that we all have the right to be different, but that we actually are. We represented so many different parts of the country (Kansas, California, South Dakota, West Virginia), but we are all different ages and have different life experiences and histories we bring to our friendships. I am always a sucker for storytelling. Sit me down, tell me a story, and I will listen for hours.

So we sat at Tori Den, eating sashimi salad, kamameshi, drinking banana milk and mango juice for about three hours. In my inherent corniness, I asked everyone to name something for which they were thankful. It was very reassuring to hear how happy everyone was to be in Japan. In the absence of family, I couldn't have asked for a happier or more enjoyable Thanksgiving.

Since Thanksgiving is my favorite meal, and has been since I was a kid, that is probably the first meal I will ask for when I get home. I am so excited to share with my wonderful family my stories and experiences and hear theirs in return.