A Spectacular Gift: Radio City Christmas

Today was a day in Manhattan with Sr. Anna Marie.  After a few years of being shown around parts of S. Korea by my dear friend Sr. Anna Marie I finally got to return the favor as a way of saying "Thanks".  She lives in Korea Town which I'm beginning to realize is just like living in Korea.  There is ShinHan and Woori Banks just down the street! The signs are in Korean. There are Korean markets and restaurants. Most surprising to me...there are special unmarked Korean speaking taxi drivers! You can live here and never really know it is the USA. However, once out of Flushing, I can see life is quite American. I helped us maneuver our way into Manhattan to the Museum of Natural History and Radio City.  We had a spectacular day!

  The best part of the day was Radio City. A friend of Sr. Anna Marie's wanted to treat her to something special.  The gift was incredibly thoughtful.    We were given two tickets to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular with The Rockettes(the ladies who kick high and move in sync).  

When I was making plans to come to NYC I looked into going to this show.  It was just too expensive.  So you can imagine how surprised I was when someone sent us on our way to Radio City with tickets in hand.  There were a lot of little kids smiling from ear to ear there today. Sister Anna Marie and I were right there smiling with them.   It was such an American thing to do and I enjoyed sharing it with someone who taught me so much about Korea.    There we were sitting up close and center, listening to Santa Clause singing, watching the Rockets do their version of the Nutcracker and I couldn't help but be totally overjoyed.   

I remember being so torn about visiting NY during the Thanksgiving holiday. I knew I'd be giving up a more traditional Thanksgiving and after 4 years away I was longing for one. I never could have imagined the gifts of visiting such good friends.  I'm having a 2 week Thanksgiving Holiday! My first Thanksgiving holiday back in the United States is being spent with two of the people I'm most thankful for.  Both are women whose hospitality and witness to to gospel transformed me deeply during my time away. So today with Sister Anna Marie I was most content. We are two women who met half way across the world and yet were together in America during one of the most important USA holidays. And we went to one of the best shows in town.   It is the quintessential Thanksgiving.
If you are a friend of mine in Korea whose reading this...know that this (American) Thanksgiving especially I'm thinking of you. I'm  grateful to all of you for your hospitality and kindness.   Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.