Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

So many things to be thankful for today (or in my case, yesterday...).  Through the week I made a pumpkin pie entirely from scratch and brought in to work yesterday (and saved some for myself, of course) in honor of Thanksgiving.  Since I'm the only American there, I had to uphold the tradition for everyone, and my coworkers were pretty curious about how we celebrate the holiday back home.  I explained that it's a time to get together with family, play games, laugh, and eat yourselves into comas.  Don't forget the sweatpants (so your stomach has room to expand to double and triple size as you wolf down the Turkey-day delectables)!  But it's also a time to find something to be grateful for, to realize how good you've got it, to appreciate the big and little things in your life - let's not forget the origin of the traditional feast.  The pilgrims would've been SOL if not for the kindness of their neighbors (which they dismally failed to repay, but that's another story...).

The thing that's made the biggest impression on me lately is how lucky I am to be surrounded by such wonderful people.  Everyone here in Te Anau is so friendly it almost throws me off.  Lyn and I marvelled at this today - it's becoming a rare thing indeed to find a community where people genuinely care about each other and visitors, where going out of their way to help is commonplace and it's not viewed as going out of one's way so much as just helping out.  I'm glad I ended up in this incredible place, as much for the people as for the scenery and the job, and that I've had the confidence and support network to get me here.

It's days like this that make me miss all of you at home, and I hope you know that even though I'm adventuring so far away it doesn't mean I've forgotten about you all or don't care.  I read a quote earlier today that I really liked, that went something along the lines of distance becomes a small issue when you really care about someone, and while you may miss them, be thankful that you have someone as incredible as them to miss.  Such a positive way to put it, and appropriate for the theme of the day.  So thank you to all my dear friends, my wonderful boyfriend, and my lovely family who are far away - know that you're all important to me and I count myself lucky to know you.

And just because I wouldn't be the person I am today without you, mom, you get a special paragraph all to yourself.  Thank you for always being there for me and for pushing me to push myself.  I appreciate all you've done for me and love you more than I can say.  I'm proud of you.  Congrats on finally getting a new job and the new opportunity you deserve!

I love you all and hope you're enjoying your tryptophan dreams.

My 100% homemade pumpkin pie.

A final thought: love is another way to express the gratitude you feel at having someone in your life.  Also, we should have "thanksgiving" every day.