“I am thankful for the miracle that turned dinosaurs into dinner,” said one of the people in attendance at last Thursday’s thanksgiving dinner. By candle light sat a family of some twenty-odd young adults, North Americans, South Americans, Israelis and Europeans. This group of students had gathered together in the house of a kind hearted friend, and far from home I found a true representation of thanksgiving.
The word “Thanksgiving” means (unsurprisingly) to give thanks, generally to a higher power. While some people give thanks daily with either grace, or birkat, nearly any family can tell you what thanksgiving is. It may be an American holiday, but it is also an international sentiment. What people are thankful for, however, can vary considerably. Many times I’ve sat to a thanksgiving feast and enjoyed delicious food, greedily stuffing myself like a fowl. Last year I know I was grateful for having a few friends at my apartment to celebrate, especially as I felt a growing detachment with State College. This year’s celebration put a markedly new twist on the holiday.
We were not sitting by candle light because we had lost power. We were not sitting by candlelight because we were performing any sort of Séance. We were sitting by candle light because the host’s family has a tradition. After the meal, everyone gathers with an unlit candle. The first person lights his and speaks for a moment about what he is thankful for. After, he lights his neighbors candle with his own and the light is passed from one to the next, each given a moment to tell what they are thankful for.
I thought of all the great things I have been given in the last year, so many times I received exactly what I needed at just the right time. A call from a friend just to say hello, or a letter in the mail. “What I am thankful for,” I said when I held a bright candle in my hand, “are the two most important things in life. My friends and family.” I have received so much support in my adventures, in my everyday life and I have been gifted with unanticipated generosity of both old friends and new. I just wanted to mention that and thank you all for how much you mean to me.
Now please allow me to back track and gloat for a moment what a resourceful handful of young adults were able to create. The atmosphere was warm and a blur of a number of languages. At the end of a school week, it was a wonderful reprieve. There were two large and juicy turkeys, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, stuffing and gravy. In addition, just imagine homemade apple and pumpkin pies. There was more than enough food for all.
Not only did I spend a wonderful time with these great people, but I managed to spend a little of thanksgiving with my family back home as well. I’m sure everyone has done it, on thanksgiving or some other holiday. I was supposed to call earlier, but I had not imagined the thanksgiving feast here would run to midnight. I reached my family after they had sat to eat, and enjoyed telling all of them about the evening, school and my future plans (most of which are currently uncertain).
When I am more confident in where things are heading I’ll be sure to commit them with electronic ink, but for now suffice to say that I have a couple exciting things I’m looking forward to. We shall see which hatch from their eggs, which to survive infancy and which fly war and wide.
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