What Am I Thankful For?

This week, Socrates Cafe has asked us to list a few things that were thankful in anticipation of Thanksgiving. 

I could do that but I'm not going to.  I'm diverging a little bit but not onto a philosophical topic but one close to my heart. 

It's an experience growing up in America and having this holiday where families share the day together by having turkey (and ham, if your my grandpa), mashed potatoes (and deviled eggs, if your my grandma), etc, etc, and then being away from family during this holiday. 

For us, or at least for me, Thanksgiving was always about spending time with family, especially after we had moved away from them by an hour's drive.  I never thought of it as the day before the big shopping season or time to think about what I would get or give for Christmas. 

It wasn't a perfect holiday for me, mind you.  My mom was remarried and then all of the sudden there were two sides to our family.  My mom's and my stepdad's.  Without going into it, I will say that there seemed to be a lot of animosity between them at times and there were holidays when we would spend time with one side but not the other.  And sometimes that was the case with Thanksgiving.  And, for me, that would partly spoil the holiday.

When I joined the Army in July 1996, I would not spend the holiday with family for the next five years for many reasons, some of them being financial (e.g. plane ticket costs), obligatory reasons (e.g. being deployed to Bosnia during Thanksgiving 1999), distance (living and working in Germany, Thanksgiving 2000) and wanting to spend that time with friends. 

The notion of family and who and what is important in my life have changed in that time.  I'm guessing it's also part of growing up and leaving the house and in seeing that there is life and possibility beyond one's familiarities.  I have ventured beyond those boundaries and will continue to do so for a very long time.  I am not sure where I will end up as I am not yet sure who I am.

To be sure, I am thankful for what many others are thankful for: family, friends, freedom, and opportunity.  Above all else, I am also thankful for the resources to travel and see the world and to decide who I am and what I want to be in this world.  Thanksgiving 2005 will find me here in Singapore but I have no idea where next year's will find me. 

To those who already know who they are and where they will be and what they will be doing (or at least have a good idea of what it will be barring the unexpected), happy Thanksgiving.  To those, like me, who don't know exactly what they want, who they are, and where they'll be, happy Thanksgiving and may you find your way.