Thankful

I love Thanksgiving. I’m proud of my American heritage, and I’ll take any excuse to eat and party. I wasn’t going to let being in a foreign country stop me from celebrating. After my and a friend’s respective dinners were moved to Friday, we decided to go to a pot-luck dinner at the Merkaz Hamagshimim, a kind of cultural center for Americans in Israel. She got into a bit of a predicament with an Arab cab driver who was saying inappropriate things to her and then followed her to the dinner, but putting that behind us, we showed up to the packed dinner an hour and a half late. Sitting on the stage with the picked-over scraps of turkey we could salvage, we talked about family and friends and misadventures and the things we were thankful for. I’m thankful for my friends and family and the time I spend with them. I’m thankful I’m in a position where I could quit my job and take some time off without worry. I’m thankful for the opportunity to see new things and go to new places. I’m thankful for my safety and that of the people I care about in a volatile world.