Things I am thankful for: electricty!

Thanksgiving came and went and I had a lot to be grateful for.

I am thankful that life for me, relatively speaking, is fairly easy compared to my grandmother's lives. I was born and raised in Northern California; they were born in a little town in the highlands of Jalisco, Mexico. Okay, maybe little town is a bit generous. My family is from a tiny village, no more than a couple of streets wide when my mom was growing up.

While not the very first in my family (an uncle and two cousins beat me to it), I did go to college. When my grandmothers were growing up, they had an elementary school. That was it.

My mom remembers when they first got electricity in town the 1960's, when she was a little girl. My grandmothers had to go down to the river to wash clothes and gave birth to their children at home with only the local lady who had some experience delivering babies.

This may sound like an old man's rant (I had to walk five miles in the snow dang nabbit!) but it's not. These are realities my recent ancestors lived with. I'm not going to go into lack of birth control, lack of opportunities, and the odd revolution here and there that shaped my grandmothers lives.

I am just going to say I am so grateful that my grandparents immigrated! I am so glad my dad grew up in this country, and that when he went back to visit the old country one year during the holidays, met my mom and eventually brought her butt over here too.

Please don't misunderstand what I am about to say. I am immensely proud of my heritage and my culture. On that note, I am eternally grateful that I was born in these times, in this country! My parent's town has grown, and yes they have electricity now and running water, but let's face it: if I had been born and raised there, even now, I'd have been married in my late teens, most likely to a third or fourth cousin with a drinking problem and I'd probably be swarming with kids.

Because that's the reality for many of my female relatives, even now.

Right now, I am relaxing in my living room, in my comfy sweats. My husband, who is also Latino, is sitting next to me on the couch. He's flipping through the channels and he treats me like his best friend. We don't have any kids yet, we're thinking about it. We're just hanging out, sharing a bottle of Lost Abbey Serpent Stout; maybe gonna have some leftover pumpkin pie a little later. I have nothing to complain about.

I love my life!