Giving Thanks

Cheers!! (And yes, that is fried chicken in my other hand... closest thing I could find to American food tonight.)

Holy cow, I have been here just shy of a month already. (or is it only?)  Sometimes it seems like I've lived here for 4 months already, when I think about how much I miss everyone and everything back home. But right now, I feel like I was just applying for this job, just telling my boss and co-workers, just starting to pack...

This is the first Thanksgiving I have ever missed.  And that is something I am thankful for-- 26 Thanksgivings with friends and family before today. And if I count all the doubles, when I had two families to visit, I'd have even more.  My American neighbor can't even remember the last good Thanksgiving he had.  I almost cried at the thought. Either last year or the year before, I was in charge of the Turkey. Let me see if I can find the picture...

That's right, I not only took a picture, but I thought it was important enough to transfer said picture to the new computer. Damn...this girl loves the holidays!

Alright, enough goofing, what else am I thankful for...  I am so THANKFUL that not only am I experiencing this mind altering, future changing, life enriching adventure, but that I am healthy enough to enjoy it, that I have money in my pocket to not be stressed about making ends meet, and enough set aside to actually travel and have a little fun.

I am thankful that I have made AMAZING friends who share in the ups and downs of this roller coaster ride as we experience the glory and the hell all together, and that I have friends back home who keep cheering me on along the way and help me feel less petty about whining over these god damn bucket "showers."

I'm eternally grateful for my most supportive brothers and parents who laugh with me about this insanity and marvel at how crazy it is on the other side of the world.

I'm recently thankful that I got an increased credit limit the other day, so in case of emergency I can actually afford to charge a plane ticket home!!

I am of course thankful that I'm losing weight everyday even though I eat ice cream religiously with lunch and beer with dinner... I shit you not. (Now if I could just give up the ice cream...)

But most importantly, I'm thankful that I have a home and a life to go back to whenever I've decided I've had my fill of Sunny Thailand, that I'm not here under anyone else's orders or to prove something to anyone but myself.  I am grateful for this experience, but even more so thankful that I don't have to live here forever. I've never appreciated being born into middle-class America more in my entire life.

So count your blessings, instead of sheep. You'll fall asleep... Oh wait, wrong holiday.
Love you!