Giving thanks

for Thanksgiving on Thursday. Maybe there's no football or frost on my windows in the morning, but I'm in a beautiful country with Americans to prepare food with and eat lots and lots with and then veg out with.

for the fact that my plans never seem to go the way I envision them, which is generally a good thing and almost always more fun. (See "Carpe Diem")

for friends I've made along the way--in North Carolina and Maryland and Wisconsin and Michigan and from all parts of the country and the world: Spain, Norway, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Italy, and more.

for CL. And meaningful conversation.

for nearly four months of being safe in Quito.

for dirty dishes and the free therapy of washing them.

for humongous meals for three dollars. And the best breakfasts for one dollar: two tortillas de verde, an egg, and a cup of coffee in the most interesting market in Quito, a ten-minute walk from my house.

for the most stretching experiences and challenges and growth. Growing pains don't only happen when you're seven.

for awaking easily without an alarm for early, still mornings; when the sky is still pink and full of promise of the sunrise. The view from my terrace is magnificent: volcán Cotopaxi is majestic and snow-capped in the south, and Chimborazo, a silhouette in the north. With a cup of steaming coffee and a chorus of cheerful birds to keep me company, I can breathe deeply and smile with peaceful joy, admiring even this city, which is sometimes my nemesis.

for the fact that back in the States, everything is going to seem so easy and organized. At least for a time.

for my love of beauty and search for truth.

for Hillsdale, and the world's best professors. and for the sisterhood of Pi Beta Phi, MI Alpha.

for the Internet and the ability to communicate (I mean, I get to see that precious bundle of fur thanks to the wonders of the computer!)

for my job and my students, even if they are mischievous at times.

for my sisters and brother and mother and father and dog.

for the chance to cook and clean and the space to have people over; the chance to learn hospitality.

for good health, despite the dubious things I've eaten here.

for St. Francis de Sales.

for good books and poetry.

for my new guitar and the brand new callouses on the fingers of my left hand.

for my new-found love of cooking and my budding skills.

for friends in the northern hemisphere who keep in touch with me, bearing with my complaints and cheering me in my loneliness and sharing in my joy and excitement and adventures. (Like you, reading this blog.)

for every single day of the next month before I get to return home for Christmas break!