de boom die alles zag/the tree that saw everything

composed of opposites

Saturday, December 03, 2005

shanksgiving in shamsterdam :*)



Give it up for an evening of thanks- My makeshift family consisted of my flatmate Megan (the jazz songstress), her big sister Becca (conquoror of Kenya in the Peace Corps), Christopher Dale (he wears a sweater made of plastic), Andrea (the Canadian au pair from down the street), and my other flatemate and saucy roasted garlic extrodinaire, Binh.

We played a Balderdash-esque write down what your are thankful for and guess who said it kind of game with our gratitude.
WHAT I AM THANKFUL FOR:
(of course including my family [sisters! parents! grands!!])
**Blaspheming Zwarte Piets (the strange elf-like counterparts to the Dutch Santa)
**Holy Plastic Sweaters (Chris' fabuous fashion statements)
**Large Dutch rabbits (from the petting zoo in our neighborhood, whom Megan enoys impersonating)
**The Hills Are oh-so-Alive tacky wall murals (Our kitchen has this huge wall-papered view of some mountains I swear you can see the family Von Trapp belting from)
**Pychadellic Cacti (Our other infamous flatmate, playing the stereotypical American, brought home a hallucinogenic cactus for his own personal thanksgiving feast. I really had no idea there were such things...It was cooking on the stove right next to the mashed potatoes.... only in Amsterdam...)

I got to talk briefly with Joni, Julie, Dad, and Grandma Nina today (before the minutes ran out, dang it!). I am constantly aware of how much my family means to me here- how grateful I am for their incredle love and the examples they give me of what it means to truely live and love- especially my grandparents. They called as we were about to sit down to our meal as I was simulatinealouly imporvising some cooking moves with trying to remember what my grandmas had taught me the year before about making gravy... (I made a lot of happy noise :*) )

I relaxed and enjoyed and laughed and ate so much- the slow, lazy grazing and communing- we just sat around all night and played cards, sang loud to Rent and Ray LaMontagne and Eric Clapton. This makeshift family was such a blessing to me. I have been aware of this part of me that is vaugely anxious without real conscious reason about staying in this place for a whole year. But that night, sitting in our kitchen as the weather raged on outside, I just felt a kind of peace about it all- I'm going to be ok in this place, I am now, and for the rest of the year. And when all these friends I've made this semester leave, it is going to be more than ok. I'm going to be patient with myself and with God. To laugh at this rain and let it propell me forward, sing loudly and ridiculously in the dark on my bike. The weather was SO BAD, just so nasty that it made me burst out loud as I was running around on my bike in the drenching ice cold rain/sluge-slush rain mush wanna-be hail. I just loved it... For some reason, it just felt invigrating in such an odd, reverse way.

I got an e-mail from my grandpa in St. Louis, Papa Val that was just exactly what I needed, it meant so much to me. I just love his intelligent ramblings, the piecy stories and musings he throws in. At the end of his letter sprinkled with the quirky ramblings and tidbits of life and humor that are solely his, he tagged this bit onto the end. I read it and just kind of broke for a minute-

'Perhaps in future years the memories of Holland will not fade
away. Memories that will last as long as the land in which you were born.
Grow until the calling day of life comes. Because, there is so
much more to come.
From here on grow with patience.
Love Papa Val"

...and so that was what my heart needed to hear.

So here's to thanksgiving and families and life and learning. I'm fully aware of how ridiculously cheesy this may sound, but, I hope it never stops.