Over the past
week, I have been asked countless times how I feel about not going home for
Thanksgiving. Many assume that for a JV far from home it is hard to spend the
holidays away from loved ones. In all honesty, but it is not a new experience
to be the one absent from the family dinner table around the holidays. I
haven’t experienced a family Thanksgiving in five years and since moving west
have missed two family weddings. Distance is my reality.
The challenge
of distance is made easy by today’s modern conveniences. Access to Starbucks’
(or hip Portland coffee shops’) Wi-Fi make emails, Face Time and blogging a fun
weekend activity and excuse for a treat in the form of a caffeinated beverage
or warm seasonal sugar high. The world clock app on my phone aids in
remembering what time zone all my friends and family around the world are in
order to configure call times. While the three hour time difference makes calls
home less spontaneous and in need of forethought, the ease to pick up the phone
and have a warm and loving hello at the other end is a blessing. Letter writing
is an act of nostalgia rather than a requirement to know the happenings of
friends performing years of service of their own. The modern world makes being
a JV away from home for the holidays not so bad. Although I was unable to attend the
traditional family festivities this year, I did not go hungry. Instead, I was
fortunate to experience four Thanksgiving dinners.
The first
Thanksgiving (no not that one!) was a Casa de Paz Vegan Thanksgiving. Each
community mate created a dish to add to the feast. I introduced traditional
bread stuffing into the mix. Who knew that my grandmother’s simple recipe was
vegan or such a crowd pleaser! Another festive addition brought to the Casa de
Paz dinner table by yours truly was mulled wine. It was the first time I
created the spiced, holiday concoction from scratch, but it turns out my
culinary talents are not limited to only bread stuffing. The seasonal treat has
been requested to be a part of a community Christmas feast and I have no
problem obliging the women of Casa de Paz. Our ‘Friendsgiving’ turned into a
day full of fancy dress, laughs and celebrating three months of community and
service in Hillsboro.
The second
and third Thanksgiving dinners were quite different from the first. In the
midst of drop-in and surrounded by the youth I serve, I experienced
Thanksgiving food and drinks prepared for the masses. We are in the midst of
the season of giving, the season of generosity where dinner groups and
volunteers try to recreate a sense of tradition for youth who have not been
raised in an environment where family tradition is nurtured or valued to the
same extent of my own. We provide a sense of consistency, weekly meals that youth
can count on no matter if they are holiday themed or not. It is here that I
find routine, like my youth, to root myself to.
My fourth and
final Thanksgiving dinner of the week occurred on the actual day. Many assume
that working on a holiday is brutal, but in all honesty I quite enjoyed myself!
It wasn’t like I was working retail and preparing for the madness of Black
Friday sales and customers! I had the privilege to share another meal, a fourth
Thanksgiving with the youth I see three times a week. Many came for dinner even
though they had already eaten dinner with family, friends or caretakers. They
came for the community, the sense of belonging. In this space, it was not the
great assortment of pies and sweet fixings that brought youth and volunteers to
the dinner table. It was the community that filled the space with warmth. This
Thanksgiving may not have been shared with crazy uncles, cousins or traditions
dating back from the awkward pre-teen years. No one at the table asked about my
future plans after July or my dating prospects. It was another Thursday
drop-in. It was an evening of community and thankfulness for another chance to
meet youth where they where at. My
Thanksgiving made me four times as grateful to not be spending my holiday at
home, but rather within the warm confines of a drop-in dinner and the community
drawn together week after week.
*The contents of this page, and all links appearing on this page, do not represent the positions, views or intents of Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest.
*The contents of this page, and all links appearing on this page, do not represent the positions, views or intents of Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest.
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