For years, Thanksgiving has meant taking the only real family I have within ten thousand miles – Sharmila and two daughters to a different country. Being in a foreign land, it has often brought the family closer together – thru as simple things as Tasha having a tummy upset in Peru  and the three of us trying with our best Spanish how to find a medication… to the four of us taking a collective breath as we saw the beauty of Arenal  volcano together in Costa Rica.  This year though, we did not plan any travel abroad to give Tasha flexibility of time to apply to colleges. As we got closer to Thanksgiving though, she realized she is ahead of the game – so we took them to Dallas. This is where they were born. Many years from now, they will owe whatever little success they will make of themselves to all those uncles and aunts that held their tender fingers as they figured out how to balance on their toes to walk.. and those friends that they crawled, walked, fought and made up together.

That being done, I am now catching up with Sharmila on our flight back home – with whom I have tried to get the kids (and ourselves) understand what true Thankfulness really means. Sometimes, it just comes down telling the air hostess to give us only one glass of red wine so that we can share… to keep with the sharing of the two ear buds of the one earphones enjoying the lilting song “Man Ahmade Am” by Gul Panrrah from Iran playing on my iPad. (In Farsi, that song means – “I have come to you”)