Someone once asked me if Spain celebrated Thanksgiving. This person was American and someone I had gone to college with. Don't ya think an American would know the origins of Thanksgiving? Probably my all-time favourite holiday?? Well, in case you're not American and reading this, I will enlighten you with an abridged version. Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks, hence the name, and recognize all the good things you have in your life and be with the people you care about most.
That's what the day is suppossed to mean, anyways. I know in my family it's always been a filled with lots of cooking, more eating, and a lot of laughter. My grandfather used to always say grace, and each one of us would say what we are thankful for. Of course, most everyone says they are thankful for their parents, children, health, and wealth. I've spent 5 Thanksgivings away from home. Undoubtedly I'm thankful for my parents, my brother, the rest of my family and my friends. But what exactly am I grateful to them for?
I'm grateful for the support my parents have always gave me in all the decisions I've made. When I got a tattoo, instead of being disappointed, they cracked jokes about my "tramp stamp", when I wanted to go skydiving for the 4th time, they asked to watch the video after, when I told them I wanted to move to Spain for a year, they bought my luggage and fostered my cats, and when I told them I wanted to stay in Spain, they got their passports and came to visit me. They overcame their own worries to encourage me to do what makes me happy. I truly appreciate my mom and dad, and I should tell them that every day of the year, not only on Thanksgiving.
SO......Why do we only show the people we love that we care about them when it comes to the holidays? Why can't we make time during the rest of our busy lives for a phone call just to say hi, or an email to ask how someone's week went? I live 6 time zones and thousands of miles away from the people I appreciate most, and the occasional facebook message or odd ball email does not a friendship make. Just like any relationship it takes work, and time. Everyone is busy these days, but with the advances in technology you'd think people would find it easier to keep in touch, however, we seem to find unproductive things to do with our new found techology (ie facebook, failblog, and various applications for the iPhone or smartphones).
It's hard not to think that you are forgotten about when you decide to move to another continent. The excuses for not writing or calling are always the same, and if I may say so, they're a bunch of crap. I'm busy with work, I haven't the time, it's expensive, the time difference makes it impossible. People, we all have internet, whether on a PC at home or at work or on our phones. It takes no more than 5 minutes to write a hello email, and instead of spending those wasted hours looking at photos of old classmates from highschool on facebook, why don't we spend that time writing an email or a message to the people we genuinely care about?
Like I said, it takes work, and not just from one side, but from both. I'm as guilty as the next with wasting time instead of keeping in touch, and I hate thinking that because it's the holidays I'm now obligated to write those "How are things?" emails, but I'll do even though sometimes it's just hard always being the email writer, and not the email responder.
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