I thought about our school Thanksgiving dinner in second grade, where we lined up our desks in the hallway outside the classroom and half of us got to be pilgrims with black and white construction paper hats or bonnets, and half of us got to be Indians, with brown headbands and red feather shaped cut outs jutting up from the back of our heads. I thought about the dehydrated and rehydrated mashed potatoes, the turkey and gravy and the half pint chocolate milk cartons on the white styrofoam trays that was all the same as the regular cafeteria food, but it felt special and different because it was Thanksgiving. I remembered how as first graders, we were so jealous that the second graders got to do that, and how as I moved up the ladder of elementary school, I wished we could all have that same Thanksgiving lunch in the hallway.
I thought about the Thanksgivings growing up, where we would all pile into the car and drive down to North Carolina to spend a couple of days with my step-mom's cousin and his family. There would be turkey and pumpkin pie and a little backyard football. We would play a few rounds of the Great Dalmuti and Settlers of Catan and my dad would usually wander off to another room to read. I think I remember going on walks around the neighborhood and that there was a big pond or a small lake that we would go down to (literally, because they lived on a killer hill). I remember how we used to hate climbing back into the car because it meant we had a seven hour car ride ahead of us, and it didn't matter how many books or pillows we had, there was no way it was going to be fun.
I thought about the Thanksgiving I had in Hungary, where I went to school, but probably not for very long, and then the two other exchange students in the city came over to my apartment and we baked peanut butter cookies and ate some of the Japanese treats Motoko's family had sent her. A little later that evening, the six missionaries and some of the young adults and I met up at one of their apartments and we had a pseudo-Thanksgiving dinner, with a big chunk of turkey meat cooked on a baking pan and square pumpkin pie with phyllo dough because the sisters didn't have time to make pie crust. I shared the cookies I'd made and the mint chocolate covered Oreos I'd gotten in a care package from my mom and we all sat around speaking a mix of Hungarian and English. I remember it as being one of my favorite days I'd had in Hungary so far and maintain that it is still my favorite Thanksgiving.
I thought about the faulty premises of the holiday and that although there might have been a day that the Pilgrims and Indians, uh, I mean, Native Americans, sat down together to share a meal, they were also at extreme odds as to what exactly was going to be going down on this continent, and that to this day, the relationship is a little shaky.
I also thought about how unthankful I am, and how helpful it is to have a day set aside to reflect on all of the many things I have to be grateful for, and that even though the myth (and I'm saying myth in the Barthe sense) we pass down is dubious at best, it can't be all bad if it brings people together at a sit down dinner to share their gratitude for each other and for the great things in life.
Yesterday, I was thankful that even though I live 5,544 miles away from my parents, I have people out here that I can call 'ohana and who gather together for beautiful Thanksgiving dinners outside. I was thankful to live in a gorgeous place where 70 is cold. I was thankful for long chats with my family and short texts with far away friends. I was thankful for my rad roommates who spent all day cooking up a storm in the kitchen. I was thankful that the preceding week had been filled with good friends and good food. I was thankful that even though the week wasn't the best academically, there's still another two weeks for me to redeem myself.
All those things I was thankful for yesterday? I appreciate them even more today.
Probably the thing I'm most thankful for is that Thanksgiving is over, because now the next big day is Christmas, and I will finally be back on the East Coast to enjoy the company of those family and friends I have missed so much in the year and a half since I've been home.
Also, I doubt your Thanksgiving dinner was as pretty as mine. Check it out:
