Some moments begin with a single click.
Last November, homesick and scrolling, we found a post: Thanksgiving in Lisbon for expats – All Are Welcome. Estrela. Hosted by Ole and Arwa. We signed up. I wondered what home would taste like 7,000 km away.
We arrived at a stunning apartment in elegant Estrela. Fifteen people. Twelve nationalities. Denmark. Saudi Arabia. Pakistan. And nine more. One table. One international Thanksgiving dinner in Portugal none of us had planned.
We went around the room. Where are you from? Why Portugal? How are you finding it? The accents wove together. We laughed about language blunders, shared what we missed, and admitted what we’d already come to love.
Then came gratitude. Health. Family near and far. Safety. New beginnings. The staggering luck of being in that room, in Lisbon, together. No autumn chill. No football on TV. No decades-old recipes. But a deeper warmth. The warmth of the intentional community. Of hosts who built a table long enough for everyone. Of realizing gratitude speaks every language.
We left with full stomachs, new contacts, and lighter hearts. Our first Thanksgiving in Lisbon for expats taught us: you don’t need shared history to share home, even for one evening. Just an open door and the courage to click an online event invite as ‘Going.’
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