Thankful.

Thanksgiving can be a lonely holiday when you're a foreigner in America. The streets are empty, the stores are closed and friends are back home with their families. You're the one who's left behind. The holiday season gets particularly difficult, because November is only the beginning- a prelude to the big one- Christmas. With more time on my hands and very little left to entertain me I can't help but reflect on where I am and how I feel. I'm torn in a way that is hard to explain. With everyone I know celebrating with their relatives and my own family back home in Poland it seems I don't belong. I don't belong here, but I also don't belong there anymore either. And I'm in between stretching over, looking for my own place. In times like that I'm reminded of the great gifts in my life. I was blessed with family, friends and brains. A day is just a day - you can sleep right through it. My parents and brother are always a phone call away. I was able to work around the limitations of my Cerebral Palsy to have an active fulfilling life. I can help other people. It seems I will not be going home this December. A lot of things have been going on, new opportunities popping up randomly. There will be exciting new announcements made by the  Jordan Klausner Foundation in the coming weeks and I'm excited to be part of it. I feel I need to make it work. Because it's not only about me, my goals and my career, but if we stick through it, we can help a lot of people. And also help ourselves and reach our goals in the process as well. I'm very motivated.
A lot of things has happened.   It took me four years. Four years of stress and doubt to convince immigration of what I wanted to do here and why this is important. Advocacy and hope are not really things you can easily understand unless you need it. Unless it happened to you. But, after all the second guessing that had me often thinking what am I doing here still I have a green card. I've also begun practicing as an attorney this year showing the people that said I would never make it. It all easily could've gone the other way. I have a lot to be thankful for. I'd say also for my patience and dare I say, courage. With a store bought sliced turkey and Publix cranberry sauce I reflect on the year but also look into the future. Because what I'm about to do can help other Cerebral Palsy families and it's all worth the hassle.