This is the Thanksgiving Holiday week in the USA, where we commemorate a romanticized version of a 1621 harvest festival feast in which refugee Pilgrims honored a Native American man of the Patuxet tribe, named Squanto, who had taught them how to fish & plant corn, and had negotiated a peace treaty for them with the Wampanoag Nation, ensuring their survival, in their first year at what is now known as Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Brownscombe painting depicting the first Thanksgiving (public domain).

Now the Thanksgiving Holiday in the USA is largely a time for gathering with family and sharing a traditional Thanksgiving meal of a roast turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravy, cranberry sauce for the turkey, a green bean casserole, buttermilk biscuits, with pumpkin & apple pies for dessert, and all accompanied by steaming hot coffee.

During this time of laughing & feasting with family & friends, our tradition is to reflect on all those things we are thankful for.

Thanksgiving dinner photo by Marjory Collins (public domain).

Many of us who live in the USA, like the Pilgrims, came here fleeing times of tribulation in other lands, looking for refuge for our families from the four horsemen of Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death, that stalked our lives.

Four Horseman of the Apocalypse painting by Victor Vasnetsov (public domain).

From my family's oral tradition, my grandfather on my mother's side, nicknamed 'Sailor', fled poverty with his family as a child from the Isle of Man, with its Celtic and Viking heritage, to the USA, for a hope of a better life.

Sailor's wife, my grandmother Eva, her family had also fled times of tribulation, first from Germany to Odessa, Ukraine. Then when tribulation arose in Odessa, Eva's father, a school teacher, fled with his family from Odessa to the USA, for safe haven.

The family oral tradition is that my father's patriarchal lineage arose in Scotland, then came to the USA, while his matriarchal lineage originated in France, came to Canada, then to the USA.

The chance of safe haven & hope of opportunity that the USA represented to my family and many other immigrants, has always been something they and I've been thankful for.

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free ..." Photo of the Statue of Liberty (public domain).

The inscription on the Statue of Liberty, a poem by Emma Lazarus, encouraged us:

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The life of immigrants in the USA is often not easy, especially for those who come with little, but you have a chance to make a way for yourself & your family, and that counts for a lot.

Life is often one of hard work & long hours, with a common knowledge among those without means, that it normally takes three generations from arrival, to having children that will be able to go to the university, so they can 'get ahead' in American life.

That was the case with my family: as a little girl, my Grandmother came to the USA with her parents from Odessa, my mother was born in the USA, and my brother, Bob, and I were the first in our family - the third generation children of immigrants - to get university educations. Bob got his doctorate in sociology, and I got my doctorate in chemistry.

My family in the 1950s. Left to right: my dad (Jack), my mother (Jaine), my brother (Bob), and me (the little guy).

It wasn't easy for any of us in my family, but we were, and are, thankful for the opportunity we've had here in the USA, our home, and each other.

In addition to my family, I'm thankful for my friends near and far, and I'm very glad you are part of my life.

Like life often is, this past year has been a combination of both tribulation & blessing, but with a lot to be thankful for.

Let me wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving 2015!

Thanks for stopping by!