I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. I still can’t believe it’s already Sunday and truthfully, I’m not ready for Monday yet! As I was putting the kids down to sleep last night, I thought about how thankful I am for everything in my life. From the big dinners every year to the little moments every day, I am grateful for my family and friends, and the opportunities I have to do what I do. If there is one thing I have learned about being a mother of two, is to not take anything for granted. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to experience something as seemingly small as watching my babies fall asleep, or overhear my toddler play aloud, or watch them both laugh super hard at something silly. And even though life is not perfect, I have many more things to be thankful for than not. Specially because I know there are many families who are less fortunate than me.
Over the last couple of months, I have been thinking a lot about the people of Venezuela, my home country. I think about the friends I met over the summer who left everything behind to come here in search of a better life. I think about their family members, who stayed, and remain connected only through video calls and social media. I think about those who day in and day out have to go through extraordinary measures to accomplish even the simplest errands like buying (or finding) groceries or going to the bank. I think about people who have to look for food in the trash because the shelves at the supermarkets are empty or because inflation has made simple commodities like flour or sugar incredibly unaffordable even to those with good paying jobs.
I write this, not just to bring awareness to the issue or to say “hey, I know things are bad over here, but look over there.” No, I write this because it’s been hanging over my head for quite some time now. And it hurts to see your own suffer. It hurts even more when there is nothing you can do about it. I write this because I want my children to know where their parents are from. But this is not the Venezuela I remember. This is not the place I left so many years ago when my own parents were in search of a better future.
So as I count my blessings this Thanksgiving holiday, my gratitude is amplified ten-fold as I think of those who are less fortunate than me, here and abroad.
What are some things you are thankful for?
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