It’s Thanksgiving today, for those of you who observe the holiday, and I thought I’d share a little something from my blog with you

My first Thanksgiving was the year I turned nine.

We moved from Australia to the States that year, and before we left, a beloved teacher at St. Thomas, a wonderful woman named Mrs. Burns, had me stand up in front of the class to “share” a bit about the trip. Well-meaning classmates, eyes wide with curiosity in a sea of burgundy jumpers, asked me where I was going, if I was scared, and what it would be like once I got to wherever “there” was.

“It’s a city called Seattle,” I shrug, “somewhere in the States.” What’s the States like, have you ever been?

Then I said something like, “Well, I know that they call Chemists ‘Drug Stores!’” Which made them collapse into hysterics exclaiming, “‘DRUG stores??? Ahahahahahaha ‘Pardon me, may I buy some DRUGS?’ Ahahahaha how RUUUDE!!!”

Seattle turned out to be cold and grey, almost too cold and grey, and the house we lived in was quaint but empty, as the shipment hadn’t yet arrived. Mom was an old hand at Thanksgiving and explained it to me. But as a practical woman who still knew how to throw a feast, she and Wilma (darling, beloved kitchen angel and stand-in mom) stuffed a cornish hen, and not a turkey. (How the hell could two women and one child finish off a turkey?) So it was cornish hen, with stuffing on the side, at a small foldable card table in the kitchen.

What did we give thanks for that evening? For health, of course, for the safe trip, for Dad’s safe trip (who was stuck at the other house doing all the packing), for Abelard’s safe trip (our dog who was in transit), for all our blessings, for a smooth transition into our new surroundings (not unlike the prayers offered by those off the Mayflower, I suspect, minus the dog part).

I’m working tonight, in Manila, and am celebrating on my lonesome with a Turkey Stuffing roll, a hazelnut latte, and thoughts of that night in Seattle. Who’d ever think that a cold little kitchen would feel so warm right now?

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