Giving Thanks

Germany doesn’t do Thanksgiving like we do in America.

German Thanksgiving: No. German Black Friday sales: Yes!

There is an Erntedank, or, harvest thanks, but it’s just that—an early fall festival showing appreciation for the earth’s bounty, not a folkloric tale of cross-cultural unity or, like most American holidays today, an opportunity for a sale.

Ignoring America’s cross-cultural contamination on that latter point, I wanted to offer up my gratitude on this day celebrating family, community, and circumstance:

• I am thankful for my husband’s support of my “indefinite work sabbatical” so I can explore my surroundings, write this blog, and work on my fiction.

• I am thankful for the love and support of my family and friends, and the technology that enables us to remain a constant part of each other’s lives.

• I am thankful for the folks I’ve met over the past couple of years from more than 15 countries, who have helped educate me about the experiences of real people in a world that before was always “over there.”

• I am thankful to now volunteer for an organization providing rapid response for refugees.

• I am thankful for secure surroundings and the health of my body and my mind.

• I am thankful for a good education and the experiences it has led me to find.

• I am thankful for the freedoms I enjoy, won both by soldiers of foreign wars and domestic soldiers for social equality.

• If you’re still reading, I am thankful for you. Whether or not you know it, you inspire me to keep taking on new challenges and trying to find interesting ways to share it all with you.

• Finally, and most importantly, I am thankful that—even though we sometimes forget—we are all in this together.