Friday, December 25, 2009

Giving Thanks: Holidays, Friends and Family

It's Christmas Eve and three dog's and a cat are stirring and I am wired in the coziness of my dad and stepmom's house.  It is hard to believe that six months have gone by living here in my parents abode, warm, secure and able to sleep in.  I will be boarding the first of three planes to get me to my final destination in Korea early Saturday morning.  The wait is over, the time is near.  It is hard to believe but I couldn't be more excited.  Tomorrow is Christmas.  It will be my last full day in the United States of America for at least a year, unless I find a way to squeak a vacation stateside sometime late next year.  The journey begins the minute I board that first plane.  My life is about to change in ways I cannot grasp until I am living it.

The gratitude I feel towards my father and stepmom for taking me in and letting me invade their home and disrupt the organized comfort in which they live is insurmountable.  The money given to me is huge, in the sense that nothing can be accomplished without it unfortunately.  This is my least favorite thing about life.  It takes money to get anything done.  There is money needed to simply take the most basic first step in any process to achieve a goal and without their help none of this would be happening for me.  It irks me to even try to put it into a dollar figure, because the cash is only a fraction of the help that has been provided to me.

I have been allowed for six months, to sleep in as late as I want.  I was able to stay up late watching the boob tube (something that I enjoy but can and do live without when on my own), and wake at noon to a half full coffee pot ready to reheat at my slow rising leisure.  I maybe had a small list of chores involving yard work of some sort on a day or three here and there (which I was paid cash for), but I was pretty much free to surf the internet, stuff my face and get a little exercise if I wanted.  I was hardly pressed to keep up the room that was mine to stay in.  It got a bit cluttered with piles of clothes and stuff, but I never got too much grief about it.  The bed I'd sleep in is large and soft with more pillows that any self respecting single male needs, but I enjoyed it none the less.

I have been treated to home cooked dinners nearly every night seven days a week for six months.  If it wasn't cooked from scratch which it often was, it was still prepared and presented.  My dad is a lucky fellow for that and I a spoilt over-extended guest reaping the benefit of his wife's talent in the kitchen.  I drank vita-water and quality beers at will.  The "at will" part with the beers probably garnered me the most consistent disapproving vocalizations from my dad, granted he paid for them.  What's a guy supposed to do faced with such a bevy of beverage glory?  Not to mention the snacks!  Chips and artichoke dip, macadamia nuts and stuffed olives calling me during the late night movie watching hours.  I am lucky to have a treadmill to use as well and some weights or a fat-ass by now I would have become for sure.  Americans are assumed to be fat by other countries and I want no part in being the fat "ass" in their assumption further perpetuating that sad truth overseas.  Thankfully my metabolism hasn't shut down.

I have yet to come up with a way to properly thank them both as we part ways late tomorrow evening.  I will be driven to the airport and sent on my way.  I have tried to verbally convey it, spouting many genuine thank you's at the appropriate times and expressing my appreciation whenever possible, but I feel that they don't realize how much everything that they have done for me is appreciated.  Maybe if they could see how happy I am to have the opportunity to do what I am about to do, they will realize that I owe much of my progress as a human to their financial aid and mental support... and I couldn't have done it without them.

 One day I will figure out a way to give back.  I guarantee any family member would be happy with  artwork that I made versus something bought in a store, but I haven't made much lately and I need to feel settled to create.  I am hoping I can settle in enough to get back to making art for the love of it and maybe the content would even be fit for sharing with my gramma.  She is very supportive of me making art, but finds anything recent dark and morbid, not the kind of stuff to hang in her house.  I love her reaction when I show her my stuff.  She is like, "oh gawd... I don't know about this... maybe for a cover of a rock album or something"...  I hope to find a groove soon in Korea... I need some inspiration.  Something to inspire some positive imagery fit for gramma's walls.

I am stoked to have some really great friends too.  I feel loved and supported by these peeps who lack the unconditional family obligation of their time invested in me, yet they openly support me in this trip and everything I try to do.  I feel blessed to have peers wishing me the best on this journey.  I realize I have some lifers in my corner however brief or extended our journey, we are lucky to enjoy it together.  I don't feel all alone in this thing and am blessed to have such a great support system to reach out to when I need a morale boost.  Thanks to my immediate and extended family members along for the ride... going brah!

2 comments:

  1. KOREAN BOTULISM!!!! KOREAN KOREAN BOTULISM!!!!!

    Remember singing that song at the top of our lungs? I sure as hell do, don't remember when but I can guarantee we were at least slightly inebriated. Its headed to the top of the charts in K-town and you can create the dark album artwork for it. We can put the gold album on your grannies wall.

    Your family knows how appreciative you are. You don't really need to say anything. Its just love bru. You got a great family and great friends, sometimes I wonder how. Good luck in Korea and have a Merry Christmas. Over and out from the Western Pillar of Islam.

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  2. ..."Korean Botulism" went down at the Pipeline House at you guys' going away party... debauch

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