Do you wonder what the Holidays mean to you? Every year you go through the motions, pulled in by friends and family to dance your part to the tune that others play for you. Well, I am writing this blog to encourage you to flip the switch to your own radio station this holiday. What is it that, well we’ll say Thanksgiving, means to you, you and only you? I know this time is about gathering with those that we care about, family, loved ones, and sharing a meal, a day in their company. We are supposed to be expressing gratitude. Gratitude. Gratitude for others, gratitude for our lives, gratitude for the love that we receive, for those who have parented us, for those who were raised at our side. This is ideal, this is what it is supposed to mean.

About ten years ago, I had a friend who was an ex crack addict, band-aide, who was in a wheel chair and had degenerative bone disease. She was probably one of the most flawed human beings I have ever met. Yet there was something in her eyes that I was drawn to. The relationship didn't end well, and I believe she is no longer with us, but even though it ended up being a hard struggle to welcome her into my life, she changed me. Her name was Sara Magyar, an overweight disabled Hungarian who had been addicted to drugs, a pot farmer, homeless and a truck stop hooker. She ran a program called Peace for the Streets by Kids for the Streets. She reached out to and fed hundreds of homeless young adults on the streets of Seattle, helped them find housing, enter programs, and welcomed them into her life. They lived with her, hung out with her and called her Mama. Bless her soul. One Thanksgiving, my parents gone from their lovely farm on Lopez Island and in South East Asia, we invited Sara and many of her ‘kids’ up for a stay and a Thanksgiving weekend here on Lopez Island. We cooked an awesome meal, played games and the Rocky Horror Picture Show played on the TV all day. Almost all of these new friends had no families or had been abandoned by them and had been homeless for years.

Ever since, Thanksgiving has taken on a new meaning. I no longer want to take advantage that I have a family, and though my family desperately wants to spend the holiday with me this year, I can’t help but feel that Thanksgiving is about honoring our families that are not blood related, or about creating a family for an afternoon with ones who are far from home. Thank you Sara, for ALL of the good you blessed this planet, and I hope that you are at peace wherever you may be.