Thanks

It's Thanksgiving in the US today, but since us crazy Canadians celebrated Turkey Day back in October, today is just another work day for me. Since I moved out to the west coast I've been spending a lot of time in both the Vancouver and the Seattle areas. It's been interesting to note all the small ways that life in the US is different than life in Canada.

Canada vs. USA

For one thing, I've never participated in Black Friday before (and likely won't this year either). I do recall vague reports of a crazy shopping day, but still don't fully get what the point is other than getting a jump on your Christmas shopping. I'm sorry to say that there is nobody on my list this year that's been such a good girl or boy that they warrant me getting out of bed at 3:00 a.m. to battle crazed bargain hunters!

Now us Canadians? We've got this all backwards. We celebrate Boxing Day on December 26th. That's right - the day after Christmas, stores are open and everything is on sale. Didn't like what you got under the tree? No worries! You can hit the mall tomorrow and get that XBox 360 or Malibu Stacey you *really* wanted at 50% off. Some stores are even starting to extend their sales and create "Boxing Week" specials, particularly for clearing out holiday decorations.

Compare that to Black Friday, a giant country-wide sale one month BEFORE Christmas? That makes a hell of a lot more sense! Unless, of course, you're a retailer who wants to eek out one more big sale day before settling into the January deep freeze, where sales are slow and shoppers stay home to lick their credit card inflicted wounds.

Cigarettes, booze, gas prices...the Canadian custom of constantly apologizing to strangers...I think I'll have to break up my observations into a few blog posts as this is getting rather lengthy. Eh?


My Thanksgivings

But since it is Thanksgiving for millions, I'll throw my own thanks on the table. Taking a moment every day to think about the things that you're grateful for is an excellent habit to get into.

Looking out my window and seeing green in the middle of November, being able to see the mountains, breathe the ocean air...these are things that I couldn't be happier about right now. Even when it's raining.

Though I haven't made a lot of friends out here yet, I feel like two of the people I've met are friends who will be in my life for a very long time. Sometimes I just get a sense about that, when I really click with someone and it feels like we've known each other for years. So far that's only happened, let's see...5 times. And I was right on all counts.

I remember vividly sitting around an old kitchen table playing cards one summer with a couple of guys from work. We all worked at a big telco company doing tech support and had traded our shifts so that we could all get a few days off together. One of the guys had a family cabin on a lake. It was exactly what I needed: quiet, good company, no computers.

The funny thing is, my boyfriend (at the time) was there too. We were all friends. But he went to bed early and I stayed up playing cards late into the night. The three of us talked for hours and even remarked at one point how comfortable we all were, how it felt like we'd been friends forever even though we'd only worked together a few months. The three of us are still great friends today. And (not surprisingly) that boyfriend is an ex.

So. Yeah. I'm grateful for good people. Thanks.