Thanksgiving to be Thankful for

As I mentioned in my previous blog, Thanksgiving went really well this year. Silence is a cooks highest compliment, and I got about 30 seconds of nothing but forks on the plate. As for Steve helping, he did help. He stayed the hell out of my way and emptied the garbage can when I asked him too. What more could I ask for? Seriously.

I think I've mentioned this before, but for any new readers, Steve has two half sisters still in the Phillipines. Steve's mother Cris left them behind when she married Steve's dad. Anyway, I'll get into that more a little bit later. Cora is one of Steve's sisters, and her husband called this Thanksgiving. The phone rang, and the caller id picked up as an unknown number, so none of us picked up til we heard him speaking on the answering machine. What a surprise that was! Steve talked to him for a little while, then his sister Cora too. I could tell it was a good conversation, because he was happy when he got off the phone. The family over there heard Steve was getting married and they wanted to congratulate him.

The economy in the Phillipines is terrible. There is no middle class to speak of, really. Its poverty, or stinking rich. Its very hard to find jobs, most Phillipinos went overseas to work but that has all but stopped with the war. Steve sends money to his sisters every month, and it helps them a lot. Its not a whole lot to us, but it will buy them groceries for the month and help pay other bills. Cora is pretty inventive when it comes to making extra money. Before the war they earned extra money by writing up documents for Phillipino citizens to work in other countries. Now, they recently bought a Phillipino country version of a convenience store and a water truck. The convenience store is for those who cannot walk all the way to the nearest town to buy important supplies. In many parts of the area they are in its impossible to get fresh water, so they drive around the truck selling water to people that need it.

We buy holiday chocolate the day after, when its been marked down and blue jeans to send to them so they can sell it on their version of the black market. I guess that stuff is hard to come by over there, where here we can buy it, no, afford it every day.

It was good to hear from them, and to know that they are doing well. That's what got me thinking about what I'm really grateful for. I was born in America. I literally have no door closed to me if I'm willing to work hard enough for it. I never had to worry about moving somewhere where the economy was better. I never had to consider leaving my family to make a better life for myself. Cris is the biggest hugest family person you will ever find. She loves her children, her grandchildren, her whole family. She lives for her family. So when I learned of Cora and Cynthia in the Phillipines it kind of blew my mind. It was such an anti-Cris thing to do. As I began to learn more about the Phillipines though, I realized that the best thing she could do for her children was leave to make a better life in America. How crappy is that? To have to leave your children behind so you know they'll have a better life? I'm so thankful I'll never have to make that choice.

I'm also thankful to a man named Bill Green. He dated my mother when I was very young, and after they broke up he sent me cards on every holiday and my birthday for years. It meant so much, especially now, that someone outside of my warped family cared enough to send me cards. Not only did he remember me, he made it a point to know what my address was, because it changed frequently. I remember that he bought me a kitten one year for Christmas. I remember driving in his car, and he would quiz me on who was singing on the radio. Not that it was hard, it was always the Who. I remember the puppy dog lunchbox he bought me, and the snakeskin sneakers. I wanted them so bad and my mom wouldnt think of blowing that much money, but he bought them for me. And those sneakers were fragging hideous. Now that's love.

I also want to apologize to Kathleen. The things I did, that you got the reaction from were inexcusable. I am so sorry for what I did, what I said, and what came of everything that happened. I never should have interfered. Now that I have what I have, I realize what I destroyed. I am very very sorry.

Well, thats it for blogging today, kids. Brenda, I havent gotten a life. Well, unless you count a video game character a life.