Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving remains one of two holidays that I always feel the most homesick for the USA [the second being the big family reunion on the 4th of July]. Very thankful this year to be in America for Thanksgiving.

I think this occurs because when we spend the day in Haiti few people around us know the significance of the day unlike the holidays of Christmas, New Year or Easter.

 Knowing that your family members will be gathering together without you enjoying family time, sharing family stories and making new stories without you is never easy.

Phone calls and Skype connect us but only for a few minutes of mixed emotions and the feelings of what your missing can overwhelm once the connections end.

Being human even the struggle to find a few traditional foods can cause a lot of stress and loneliness.

While one's head may recognize that hunger dominates the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the world and be thankful for the food on the table, the heart longs for the traditional foods one remembers fondly from years of family feasts.

This mixed pull and push occurs in many live areas for those of us who's loyalties are shared between different cultures and countries. Even writing this I pondered my title realizing that many of my friends already celebrated thanksgiving on other dates. So do I write Happy American Thanksgiving or not?

In the end I figure that anyone reading this knows I'm American but if not it's time. An American striving to be thankful daily.

Thankful this year to learn that a dear Haitian friend will be moving to the USA after almost being married to an American for 1 1/2 years. Thankful that her visa finally came through while praying for those hard good-byes that her family and friends will experience this week as they simultaneously rejoice and grieve.

 This weekend our good byes will start but for today and tomorrow we will focus on family and thankfulness.