Thanksgiving isn’t just about food, you know. There’s another aspect, and that’s thankfulness. I don’t know about you, but I’m in favor.
I don’t care whence you believe the good things in your life sprang from. God, blind luck, your own hard work, that time you found the four-leaf clover, or the time the tea leaves spoke, it’s all fine by me. I still think it behooves us all once in a while to take stock and realize that we’ve got some good stuff going on in our respective worlds and recognize that it’s a good thing.
What am I thankful for right her, right now? A lot of things.
I’m thankful for my general good health. The case of sniffles I’m fighting aside, I’m in pretty good fighting trim. My blood pressure is textbook, all the pieces are working okay, and I don’t appear to be spiraling into the depression that gallops through my family.
I’m thankful that my brother the alpaca rancher pulled through his recent encounter with a brown recluse spider. He’s a good guy. I want him to be around to irritate me and give me hell for quite a few more years. He had to spend some time in the hospital being pumped full of anti-toxins, and I’m thankful for those, too. They literally saved my brother’s life.
I’m thankful every day for Mr. Twistie. Without his patience, his kindness, his steadfast belief in me and his gloriously deranged sense of humor…I honestly don’t know what I would do. Not everyone can say they’ve found their soulmate, so I’m doubly thankful that I met mine at a relatively early age. As my father used to say, we saved two perfectly normal people. I like to think they found each other, too.
I’m thankful for my job. Few people get to live their dreams. I’ve dreamed of writing since I was a little girl. Now I do it, and people read what I write and seem to appreciate it. In a time when thousands are losing their jobs, I’m still spoiled. You bet your sweet bippy I’m thankful for that! Thank you to The Manolo.
I’m thankful for my evil cat, Jake. He’s a scaredy cat, and he puts holes in the shoulders of all of my and Mr. Twistie’s shirts because he’s so anxious to be held, and he stomps on my head every night on his way to look out the window over our bed, but my life would be incomplete without his furry affection.
I’m thankful for the artists and performers who make life more interesting, more entertaining, and just plain more colorful. From Salvador Dali to Hieronymous Bosch, Janis joplin to Jessye Norman, the Marx Brothers to Lenny Henry, Leo Tolstoy to Sharyn McCrumb, there are a plethora of artists, singers, comedians, writers, etc. who have my unending gratitude. They have brought me joy and hope when I’ve needed it. They’ve made me think when I wasn’t paying enough attention. They’ve helped me ground myself when I’m all a-twitter. I’ve had few opportunities to thank them in person, and I have few illusions that any of them read this blog, but I’m thanking them here, anyway.
I’m thankful for good neighbors (particularly having had a couple of really horrible ones in my life), plenty of food, some tremendously good friends, a solid roof over my head, a reliable internet connection, and the (if I do say so myself) rather clever brain I’ve had the good fortune to be born with.
And, dear Big Girl readers, I am thankful for you. I am thankful for your humor, you wit, your generous spirits, your willingness to plump right out and say when you think I’m wrong as well as when you agree with me. I am thankful for such a fun and such a challenging readership.
Thank you all.
So what about you? What are you thankful for?
I am thankful for my husband and the 15 month old princess baby currently sitting in a pile of books on her Elmo chair.
Comment by dr nic — November 8, 2009 @ 10:00 am
Oh, Twistie, I am grateful for you. Between Dita Von Teese and those Twilight kids, I think you’re probably the most-loved person on the internet.
I am also grateful for Dita, and Beth Ditto, two awesome women I got to see this year (Beth promised me next season, denim leggings. I am a little bit scared). I am thankful for my frankly smashing collection of frocks and cardigans, which keep me working it. For the lessons I have learned about eyebrows and concealer.
But I am mostly thankful for, after a big scare this year, my parent’s continuing health. And all the friends who gathered around me when I was really scared.
Comment by Margo — November 8, 2009 @ 10:02 am
I have more than I could have imagined at this point about twenty years ago, when I was living in my car. I’m thankful for the good man who came into my life two years ago after the loss of my beloved husband almost four years ago. I’m thankful for the great job I have that gives me the perfect mix of hard work, creativity, and intellectual stimulation. I work on being grateful every day.
Comment by Phyllis — November 8, 2009 @ 11:26 am
I grew up abroad in counties run by dictators, so I am very grateful to be an American. I am grateful for a loving family, wonderful friends, and a fabulous husband. Excellent health for almost everyone I know. Is there anything else?
Oh. Cheese. Chocolate. Diet Dr Pepper. A great public library three blocks from my house.
Comment by class factotum — November 8, 2009 @ 2:31 pm
I’m grateful that my husband, after 5 years of being an over-the-road truck driver, finally found a local job which means he will be home with our family every night.
I’m grateful that my job is willing to pay for my continuing education. When other people’s jobs are being cut, mine is paying for college! How cool is that?
I’m grateful for my three kids.
I’m grateful that I haven’t fallen for the media insistence on being 6 feet tall and 105 pounds. That my 5 foot 4, size 20 body is sufficient and hot. I’m perfectly happy just the way I am. I’m thankful that on Thanksgiving Day, when some women are going to pull out tiny scales, all I’m going to get is a fork!
Comment by Sarah R — November 8, 2009 @ 4:26 pm
I’m thankful beyond words for my parents, who have always supported me and never judged me. I wasn’t disowned for being bi, I wasn’t scorned because of my clinical depression, and when my life plan fell into shambles around my ears they welcomed me back home without qualifiers.
I’m thankful for my friends, without whom I would probably have committed suicide in 2004.
I’m thankful for the internet, because without I wouldn’t have known about the fat acceptance movement. And Youtube. Because sometimes, all you need in life is this.
Comment by Nomie — November 9, 2009 @ 1:35 am
I’m thankful for my husband, who works his ass off to keep us fed, housed, clothed, happy, and laughing.
I’m thankful for my baby boy, who is absurdly healthy, sweet-natured, and is already sleeping through the night at not-yet-three-months-old.
I’m thankful for the fact that my family is healthy.
I’m thankful for my in-laws, who live next door but never intrude, and who help out in a million ways, big and small.
I’m thankful for the internet, and how it’s connected me to so many people, many of whom I will never meet in person, but who I consider to be friends.
And lastly, I’m thankful for the fact that even after pregnancy and breast-feeding, my rack is still spectacular.
Comment by La Petite Acadienne — November 9, 2009 @ 7:45 am
I’m thankful Richard Simmons doesnt live in Australia
Comment by bush piglet — November 10, 2009 @ 6:08 am
I am thankful for my fantastic family! I am especially thankful for my relationship with my son and with my daughter-in-law who is the best! I am thankful for my 2 wonderful grandchildren, who are helping me see the world through the eyes of a child once again. Family relationships can be so hurtful when they go wrong, that I am thankful every day that ours is a family that bases every decision on love and not personal gain or emotional blackmail. Honestly, I have heard such horror stories from other folks about family feuds, that I just feel so incredibly blessed.
I am also thankful for the following: chocolate and peanut butter (prefferably together), being born both Italian and Irish as it makes me appreciate life’s poetry and music in all it’s forms, my heart and my brain (as they have seen me through some truly tough times and helped me emerge stronger than ever), hot water (for tea and baths), bread (all kinds), the sacrifices of others that allow me to enjoy the freedom and the country in which I live and, last but not least, all the wonderful writers of the Manolosphere.
Comment by gemdiva — November 10, 2009 @ 3:38 pm