thanksgiving

As much as I enjoy life in Australia, this week is Thanksgiving, and what sort of American would I be if I didn’t talk about the things I was thankful for? Of course I’m thankful for the opportunity to live here, my church, my place to live and my job. Of course I’m thankful for my friends and family. And of course above all I’m thankful to God for His love, presence in my life and sure hope of salvation. Since I’m abroad, though, this year I’ll list the things I’m especially thankful for – the ones I miss most:

10. Mexican food, Bombay Cuisine, Common Ground, Panera, Coldstone, Graeter’s and mom’s cooking. Yeah, you guessed it, that’s all food. First off, Mexican – they just haven’t got much of it here. A little, but not much. Bombay Cuisine for the nan bread. Common Ground because it’s my favorite coffeeshop, and everyone needs a favorite coffeeshop to come home to, even if it is five hours away. Panera for the Asian sesame chicken salad, the cinnamon crunch bagels and the hot chocolates. Coldstone for the Mud Pie Mojo, add some brownies and put it in a waffle bowl, Love-It size, please. (Incidentally, that is not the biggest size. That’d be Gotta-Have-It). Graeter’s for the black raspberry chip, obviously. And mom’s cooking, enough said.

9. Tri-County Mall. It’s not really as materialistic as it sounds. It’s a comfort place. I can just go there and walk around and know where (okay, approximately where) the stores are. There’s Charlotte Russe and Wet Seal and Body Central and, in the department stores, Jody Coyote earrings. I get the biggest kick out of being able to go there now in the middle of the day and being allowed to be there – I don’t have to be in school anymore! (If anyone questions me, though, I’ve got my handy pocket-sized diploma to prove I am a genuine graduate of Lakota West and most definitely not truant.) And there’s the memories. There’s the store I always avoid because I once got offered a job there and then took a different one a couple days later. There’s the glass elevator I acted out a Lady Macbeth scene in multiple times in succession for a theatre project. And mostly there’s just tons of ambles back and forth with friends, chatting, shopping and sharing lives.

8. Dates, measurements, sides of road, elevators, etc. It would be so incredibly much easier. The month goes first, it just does! And my brain just thinks in pounds and inches and miles and Fahrenheit. And I nearly get run over on a regular basis. (Not really, Mom, it just sounded better.) And that ridiculous "ground" floor notion. As if we count "zero" in any other context!

7. The choices and prices. America’s just got so much variety so cheap – and I am so ready to stock up at Meijer! And get my film developed. And run into some random person I happen to know from somewhere.

6. The Cincinnati Enquirer. I’m excited that I’m going to be home over New Years so I can see Jim Borgman’s year in review. And read Tempo, and Forum and the comics. I get Speed Bump online, but that doesn’t make up for Red and Rover, Zits, Baby Blues and Frazz.

5. The Cincinnati theatre scene, by which I mostly mean the Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival. I’m also pretty partial to LaComedia and whatever’s on at the local high schools and community theatres, but you’ve got to have a favorite theatre company and Cincy Shakes is mine. Sitting on the stage, making eye contact with the actors, going to talk-back sessions after Sunday matinees and seeing Jeremy Dubin and Giles Davies.

4. My library. I love it. I even have its phone number memorized, which is slightly more than I can say for my own library number. Thank goodness they let you check books out regardless. And rack up fines of up to $10. It’s a great library. It has all my favorite books and movies and the CDs that I think I own because you can check them out for three weeks and then renew them (online!) up to three times, and I won’t even be home for that long. They let me stand out front and do "Issue of the Week" for the Pulse-Journal and didn’t kick me out like they did at the grumpy Kroger’s (that, HA, doesn’t exist any more!). And the librarians are great and there’s the summer reading program and the easy-to-use computer card catalogues and the sales with ultra-cheap books I’m sure to get a few of for Christmas.

3. My car. Freedom to an American. Independence! Liberty! Sorry. I’ll stop naming elementary schools now and get on with it. Despite Baby Blazer’s suspect AC and perpetually breaking-though-Dad-assures-me-they’re-really-fixed-this-time wipers, Baby Blazer is my pal about town. We crashed on the regional highway together, got pulled over (and let off) in Michigan together and are generally inseparable on the road. We listen to music together; sigh when we find our keys swallowed inside one of us; search wildly for the sight of each other in the parking lot; and occasionally beep at each other for the fun of it.

2. Snow. It just really isn’t winter without it. And, may I just say, my driveway and yard make an absolute winter wonderland when it snows. Really, honestly, they do. The driveway’s lined with huge evergreens and we’re all in a woods and it’s beautiful.

1. My friends and family. Okay, you just can’t make one of these lists and not put friends and family in their rightful space. Being so far from home, easy access to my family is what I miss the most. It’s horrible being in a different time zone and having to coordinate schedules to times when both parties are 1. awake and 2. not at work, which pretty much leaves weekends, and heaven forbid you make plans then. And not only that, it’s so ridiculously expensive to fly home. And it takes so long. I miss being able to jump on a quick, cheap flight – one quick, cheap flight. Or be in a plaec where I could feasibly drive home. Doesn’t really work so well from Australia. Anyway, I can’t wait to be home and see them all again. I can’t wait to hug everybody and hang out with Dad and play games with Mom and take my one brother everywhere with me and talk Calvin with my other brother. And hug everybody some more.

Happy Thanksgiving!!