Today is Thanksgiving. “Le Thanksgiving” does not exist in France, but we are making it happen, bien sur! Who would give up the opportunity to eat stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie?? Not us!
Tonight we will gather with our assistant friends to celebrate Thanksgiving with a potluck meal à la Français-Americain. At minimum, we will be eating mashed potatoes, mac’n cheese, candied sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, and gravy. These are the essential dishes we were committed to seeing on the Thanksgiving table and whose ingredients don’t happen to be impossible to find here. Some ingredients that we take for granted in American supermarkets just don’t exist here (breadcrumbs, any quick mixes like for stuffing, cornbread, or biscuits, cornmeal, condensed soups, etc). (I must add, I don’t regret that French Thanksgiving has pushed me to learn how to make green bean casserole from scratch; I mean 100% from scratch– !!!) Luckily, as a predominantly vegetarian group, none of us felt obliged to splurge for a French turkey which would not only be impossible to find and uber expensive if we did find it, but also totally impractical; only one of us has an oven and it’s sure to be filled up with all our other dishes. :p
It’s funny that I get so many vacation days and have a very light work schedule here in France, but go figure that my longest work day of the year so far is today on Thanksgiving Day, a day when everyone in the US will be at home. So I did all the food prep I could on Thanksgiving Eve and plan to finish the rest in the one hour I have between work and our Friends-giving gathering!
Reflection on Thanks
One of the reasons I chose to come to France for the year was to make an escape and have the time to work on my French, yes, but also to work on myself; spiritually and in balancing everyday life. This is a work in progress, as I imagine it will always be. That peaceful, easy feeling I’d love to own permanently comes and goes; during my first month in France I was feeling blissful, grateful, peaceful. After returning from our fall vacation, I started stressing that my time in France is already moving too fast. I know I must recover the notion that everything is happening just as it is meant to, and that nothing I could accomplish by worrying would make my experience better, only certainly worse.
“My heart is at ease knowing that what was meant for me will never miss me, and what misses me was never meant for me.”
So Thanksgiving represents a time for the expression of gratitude. Allowing yourself to feel fully thankful and to meditate on gratitude is itself balancing and uplifting. Therefore I think this holiday season is an especially important one for me to embrace and use to my benefit.
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” ― Epicurus
In my head are the words of one of my dearest, oldest friends, who offers me a wealth of inspiration and support in matters of self and spiritual improvement:
Life is short and we are not promised tomorrow. We must learn to live in the present, to be grateful for what we have, for where we are, and to accept who we are TODAY. This mantra is a reminder for mindfulness and gratitude; each moment is precious and we must profit and draw happiness from our lives everyday. We must seek peace, joy, and balance.
I am grateful for her wise words and for the motivation people like her inspire in me. I must challenge myself to keep my feet on the ground, motivation in my head and this mantra in my heart.
“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” ― Marcel Proust
THANKSGIVING!
- I am grateful for all of the friends who are in my life, old and new.
- I am grateful for good health as I am aware of so many around me who suffer from lack of it.
- I am grateful for my family, who though they are far away from me now, feel closer than before.
- I am grateful for my husband who I fail to give enough credit to most days; he is my rock, my number one supporter, and my beloved partner in all things.
- I am grateful for new opportunities, for the ability to learn new things, to meet new people, to explore new places, to turn a new leaf in my own life, to be in the beautiful country of France, living quite differently than I was just a few years ago.
- I am grateful for my “life-pause” in Toulouse.
“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” -Oprah Winfrey
Life-Pause in Toulouse 