![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
That Which I Am Grateful For In No Particular Order
Thursday, 22 November 2007 17:27
I Am Thankful This Year For:
1. A loving fiancee who was willing to put up with me not having a job for over a year, who was willing to support me, love me, and not get frightened away by how truly and utterly nuts I can be.
2. The family I'm going to be marrying into. Because they are warm, loving, kind, generous, funny, wonderful, smart, and have opened their hearts to me. How many people can say that they truly love their mother-in-law (to be) and can't wait to see her anytime they get the chance? This morning I spent an hour walking the dogs with my father-in-law (to be) and realized that I am, for the first time, really quite happy with my life.
3. My health. No new ugly surprises during the year, and though there was a med scare in April, I've been able to get all my medicines and pay for them.
4. My job. I know a lot of people have a hard time getting work, and would love to even have my dinky little $10-an-hour internship. I may bitch about it at moments, but to have the ability to pay bills and make an honest wage is something you truly don't appreciate until you've been without it for a long time.
5. My writing. It has kept me sane, introduced me to so many new people, and forced me to keep becoming a better version of myself. I don't know why this particular thing is what I chose, and I don't know if I'm good at it or just very determined - but I do know that this is part of who and what I am. I love it. I will always love it. And I am grateful that I live in a time and place in history (and the world) where I have the ability and am allowed to do it
6. My friends. I do have some of the best friends in the entire world. I have friends who are willing to be honest, who are generous, who will be there when I need them, and friends that will let me share in both their great joys and their great sorrow when they need me.
7. The lovely dinner I just ate. Good grief that was the best food I've put in my piehole in quite sometime. Oh, the turkey was juicy and tender. The pie was succulent. There was delicious sweet potato casserole and scrumptious stuffing. I could ask for no better.
8. That my (soon to be) MIL didn't have any problems with her gallbladder surgery and could eat with us and be part of Thanksgiving (even though she got this year off from cooking/cleaning anything - and rightfully so!).
9. The internet. What would I do without it?
10. Livejournal. Because the people I've met, good and bad, and the things I've been able to find, and the way it's been such a great thing cannot be underestimated. I think, when they write my biography, they'll call the years from 2002 to whenever "The Livejournal Period", much like discussing Picasso's "Blue Period".
11. Dogs. For lo, they are better creatures than we are, they are fuzzy, and they are love.
12. Cats. I for one welcome our fuzzy feline overlords.
13. My car still functions quite nicely. After four years, three collisions, numerous curbs, many days where it ran off of nothing but fumes and ardent prayers, a rather startled British man who learned all about the American police on Saturday afternoon, and a year in NYC - it still starts up and gets you from point A to point B.
14. Wonderful weather. It's been seasonable so far this year.
15. My country. For all it's problems, flaws, and shortcoming - it's my home. I love it. Many people around do not get to sit down to a nice day off of work and eat a big meal, knowing that they're safe. They do not get to live without fearing the knock on the door, or the sound of gunfire outside their doors. It is by the grace of a higher being (perhaps luck, perhaps God) that I can enjoy this. But I never forget that there are some who do not. This does not make me better than them, it just makes me luckier. I will remember to show my gratitude for all that I'm given by trying to help them where I can, and by never thinking for one moment that I deserve any of this. Because I do not.
1. A loving fiancee who was willing to put up with me not having a job for over a year, who was willing to support me, love me, and not get frightened away by how truly and utterly nuts I can be.
2. The family I'm going to be marrying into. Because they are warm, loving, kind, generous, funny, wonderful, smart, and have opened their hearts to me. How many people can say that they truly love their mother-in-law (to be) and can't wait to see her anytime they get the chance? This morning I spent an hour walking the dogs with my father-in-law (to be) and realized that I am, for the first time, really quite happy with my life.
3. My health. No new ugly surprises during the year, and though there was a med scare in April, I've been able to get all my medicines and pay for them.
4. My job. I know a lot of people have a hard time getting work, and would love to even have my dinky little $10-an-hour internship. I may bitch about it at moments, but to have the ability to pay bills and make an honest wage is something you truly don't appreciate until you've been without it for a long time.
5. My writing. It has kept me sane, introduced me to so many new people, and forced me to keep becoming a better version of myself. I don't know why this particular thing is what I chose, and I don't know if I'm good at it or just very determined - but I do know that this is part of who and what I am. I love it. I will always love it. And I am grateful that I live in a time and place in history (and the world) where I have the ability and am allowed to do it
6. My friends. I do have some of the best friends in the entire world. I have friends who are willing to be honest, who are generous, who will be there when I need them, and friends that will let me share in both their great joys and their great sorrow when they need me.
7. The lovely dinner I just ate. Good grief that was the best food I've put in my piehole in quite sometime. Oh, the turkey was juicy and tender. The pie was succulent. There was delicious sweet potato casserole and scrumptious stuffing. I could ask for no better.
8. That my (soon to be) MIL didn't have any problems with her gallbladder surgery and could eat with us and be part of Thanksgiving (even though she got this year off from cooking/cleaning anything - and rightfully so!).
9. The internet. What would I do without it?
10. Livejournal. Because the people I've met, good and bad, and the things I've been able to find, and the way it's been such a great thing cannot be underestimated. I think, when they write my biography, they'll call the years from 2002 to whenever "The Livejournal Period", much like discussing Picasso's "Blue Period".
11. Dogs. For lo, they are better creatures than we are, they are fuzzy, and they are love.
12. Cats. I for one welcome our fuzzy feline overlords.
13. My car still functions quite nicely. After four years, three collisions, numerous curbs, many days where it ran off of nothing but fumes and ardent prayers, a rather startled British man who learned all about the American police on Saturday afternoon, and a year in NYC - it still starts up and gets you from point A to point B.
14. Wonderful weather. It's been seasonable so far this year.
15. My country. For all it's problems, flaws, and shortcoming - it's my home. I love it. Many people around do not get to sit down to a nice day off of work and eat a big meal, knowing that they're safe. They do not get to live without fearing the knock on the door, or the sound of gunfire outside their doors. It is by the grace of a higher being (perhaps luck, perhaps God) that I can enjoy this. But I never forget that there are some who do not. This does not make me better than them, it just makes me luckier. I will remember to show my gratitude for all that I'm given by trying to help them where I can, and by never thinking for one moment that I deserve any of this. Because I do not.
