Happiness Is a Happy Thanksgiving

Friends, good morning and Happy Thanksgiving from New York, from your good friend Sarah.

Today is a beautiful day in New York City, and I am thankful to have the day off from both jobs and also for the chance to connect with college Friends as we celebrate Thanksgiving together.  I was supposed to work today, but last minute switched to Wednesday instead, and so I have the day free.  In the restaurant world, you work holidays, and I am lucky to have this one off. 

I am missing my family today and the chaos of our get togethers, but Thanksgiving has become something different of a tradition, in that it includes for me a much sweeter awareness of thankfulness for the good people in my life.

 

I remembered our Thanksgivings in Brussels, where I introduced our traditional food to Friends from New Zealand, England, Ireland, Holland, Italy and, of course, all of us Americans who were missing home.  Here we are at Bart’s and Caroline’s houses, celebrating so much to be thankful for, even that ridiculously small Belgium oven which barely fit our French turkey that I so painstakingly and lovingly prepped.

 

I remember John, my father figure, whom we lost a year ago.  I remember saying my private goodbyes to him, so heartbreaking and sad, yet at the same time feeling so happy to welcome all the kids back home, and how I took over that kitchen and was cooking sweet potato pie and huge pans of lasagna to host the family and mourners who stopped by his house in Atlanta.   I remember holding little Olivia on my hip as I stirred and mashed and mixed, with Casani asking me when dinner would be ready.  Such a moment of what it would have been like to have kids of my own.  Sometimes I wonder about it, what would have been, if things had worked out differently.  I think it would have been alright, really.  I sure do have a tendency to want to fuss over people, after all.

 

I miss John every day and am so thankful to have had his wisdom and guidance and encouragement and love.  He would be so proud of me having moved to New York to learn so much in this kitchen, because he would understand that it is not about only learning kitchen skills, it is re-learning what it is like to be at the bottom of the totem pole, to be the one who has to learn from the ground up.  He would know it’s about re-learning how to learn, how to teach, how to not be the CEO and instead be the stage.  Sometimes you have to see your life through another’s wiser eyes to know and re-learn your own strengths and weaknesses. 

 

 

It’s hard some days, without him, and I imagine him quietly laughing and saying, “Is that a fact?” as I would tell him stories of this and that about my latest adventures and travels.  Be thankful today, Friends, for the people you have in your life, who love you and support you and help you be exactly what and who you are meant to be.  Today I will reach out to his boys and laugh about the naughtiness the kids have been up to, and we will say our I Love Yous and I Miss Yous and It’s Been Too Longs.  I need to make my way down to Atlanta to see them all again soon, because time moves too fast if you don’t stop and make time for the people and adventures that are most important, so be sure you take time to be present and enjoy, really enjoy, those that you love best this year, and be thankful for them.  The people you choose to be your Friends become your family, too, and I am lucky to have a very big family of good people who look out for me.

I remember a Thanksgiving at my mom’s house, where I brought home my college Friend Georgie for Thanksgiving, with our huge table overloaded with food, and how my family, being as large as it is, devoured all of it---ALL of it, within about 12 minutes.  Oh do we laugh about that story and how strange it must seem to people who are not used to chaos on holidays like we always have.  In a big family, if you don’t move quickly, you might miss the stuffing.  I am thinking of my brother and his wife and kids in California, of my brother in Michigan, my sister and her husband and daughter who will meet up at Mom’s house, about my stepbrother who is busy planning his July wedding, about my other stepbrother and half brother and half sister and my whole big family, near and far, wondering what dish will be forgotten in the fridge this year instead of served at the table.  Chances are, it’s the cranberries.

 

I am thinking of my goddaughters and Friends Kate & Jeff up in Vermont today, salivating over Kate’s menu and looking forward to a decent hour when I can call them and hear their sweet voices telling me about ballet and flute lessons, piano and clarinet, whether their new goldfish has died, and how the chickens are faring with the change in weather.  I miss them and love them and look forward to seeing them after the New Year.

 

I remember looking forward to the move here to New York and figuring out what I could afford for flights home for holidays, realizing I would not be home for Thanksgiving this year and wondering what it would be like in New York. 

 

And so here I am, in my little apartment, with the sun shining in as I drink my coffee, reading the Eleven Madison Park cookbook in between packing for Budapest, getting dressed for a long jog through Central Park, getting ready for Susan to pick me up to take me to Thanksgiving, and thinking of all of you, busy in your plans, getting ready for your feasts far and wide across the world today.  How lucky we are to be happy and healthy, with the people we love and having even more people we love far away.  Sometimes missing people is a good thing, because you know the love is strong there, and that is definitely something to be thankful for.  Today I am thankful for you, just as you are, chaos or not, turkey or not, just you.  Thank you for being such wonderful Friends in my life and making it so much fun.

 

Sending lots of love from New York, across the world, to you,

 

Your Good Friend Sarah