This Thanksgiving is special to me in many ways.
It will be the first Thanksgiving my wife, Yuko, and I will be celebrating with Ren, the newest member of our family and our first child (though our pet Chihuahua disapproves of the title).
My brother’s family, including his newborn daughter, will fly in from New York to spend the holiday with us. My dad – whose Facebook profile and cover photos are of an infant and not a middle-aged man – will also visit us from Japan so he can finally meet his grandkids.
My wife and I are cooking a whole turkey for the first time in our lives to prepare for the big family feast.
Like many Orange County residents, I’m an immigrant allured by the quality of life and freedom in the U.S.
When I came here alone 13 years ago from the outskirts of Tokyo, Thanksgiving for me was just a time to eat turkey and mashed potatoes at a local diner while my fellow students were out of town to see their families. I spent a whole weekend watching a James Bond movie marathon in my student dorm room at Duke University.
That quickly changed as my newly made friends began inviting me to their family gatherings, holiday after holiday.
After I started working as a reporter for a newspaper in Victorville, readers whom I’d never met called and invited me to their Thanksgiving and Christmas parties after reading my columns about living away from my family and friends. They treated me like family at some of their most important events, even preparing holiday presents for me. I couldn’t imagine strangers treating me in such a way in Japan.
That’s how I fell in love with the U.S. and why I stay here, despite better career opportunities in Japan.
This past election revealed how divided this country is. Watching TV news and looking at Facebook feeds make us feel we share nothing in common with those on the other side of the political spectrum.
Many Americans have lost faith in this country and its democracy, but there’s a reason I stay optimistic.
I think about people, from both ends of the spectrum, who have accepted me for who I am and generously offered me a spot at their Thanksgiving dinner table. They are all good people at heart.
I remind myself that every Thanksgiving.
I’m also whispering it in my son’s ears as I hold him in my arms every several minutes to calm him down so that I can get back to finishing this column.
I’m thankful this Thanksgiving for my beautiful wife who’s gone through a year of pregnancy without uttering any complaint, as well as people here who make us feel at home away from our families.
Now that I have a family of my own, I feel the responsibility to pay their kindness forward.
Because I know such generosity is what makes America great.
Tomoya Shimura is a staff writer covering Irvine issues.
Contact the writer: tshimura@scng.com
