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
