That’s what – I think – I felt like a bit, these last days.
This is the second time we celebrated Thanksgiving in the US of A, and the depth of the event is evading me. Thankfulness is a great thing – I had to go look for it, this last Thursday, and I found it.
But that was Thursday morning. Last Wednesday was one of those days… SIP phones that would *not* do what they were supposed to do, scripts that failed because of unforeseen exceptions, a case of juggling 6 balls and having a 7th thrown at you… Unless you’re trained there’s no ignoring that last one so everything comes down.
When pretty much anything you touch isn’t happening the way you dreamed/envisioned/planned, you’re left with this grumbliness – at least I do, and that lasted til Thursday morning.
That morning being Thanksgiving, it was an exceptionally good occasion to do some soul searching and find out what I was thankful for. A classic case of focusing on the positive – growing a faith mindset – and keeping the circumstances at bay. Cause you know: circumstances. They change..
Thanksgiving was a day of saying “Happy Thanksgiving” a lot, comparing a little with less fortunate people – and some are super less fortunate (we see a lot of people without a home here) – but I did notice that most americans have a lot of connotations to this day. And as a European of unspecified origin (part Norwegian, part Dutch), I felt a bit like a buddhist saying “Merry Christmas”: it’s easy to note the hubbub, the food, the saying, the turkey, but if you’ve grown up with it, it is so much more: tradition, family values, thinking back to that one time at the kitchen table when… etc. Some good experiences, some bad, but mostly about family and familiarity. And in my case, time helps making almost all memories good ones.
A bit like how good food can be that you grew up with. Remember the revelation scene from Rattatouille where mr. Ego revisits childhood?
Yes… Like that!
Food can be absolutely wonderful, but you definitely have to experience the feasts a few times in order to grasp some of stuff traditions point to. That will take some time.