Thanksgiving 2008: That For Which I Am Grateful.

Before getting out of bed every morning, I try to remember to think of five things for which I am grateful. I believe that starting your day in gratitude sets the proper tone for the day, and helps keep challenges in perspective. Today, on Thanksgiving, the one day officially designated specifically to help us remember all we have, and to show our gratitude and give thanks, I thought I’d list some of those things for which I am grateful. In these troubling times, especially, it’s important to take stock and recognize all that we have. In no specific order, my stream-of-consciousness list of things for which I am grateful:

• My wonderfully understanding and supportive Mother and Sister.
• My loving, caring, generous, thoughtful boyfriend.
• My friends who for some inexplicable reason stick by and stick up for me, despite all I put them through and despite our differing points of view.
• My incredibly cute and challenging puppy.
• My terribly small and terribly expensive apartment with it’s wonderful view.
• The incredible amount of freedom I have to think, create, communicate, challenge, contribute, support, learn, assist, develop, and grow.
• Twitter, the social network I belong to (“use” doesn’t justify my usage) through which I have made good friends, retained business services, received and given advice, found investment opportunities, and, oh yes, met my boyfriend.
• Apple, Inc., which has created a vast array of products that enrich and enhance my life immensely, and which, someday, I trust, will regain it’s stock value and will again hopefully enrich my bank account also.
• Skype, which enables me to see and say goodnight to my boyfriend every night.
• The framers of our Constitution, who envisioned the liberties we have and have to fight for.
• Sputnik, whose success scared the crap out of the US, and forced us to invest more money than we ever would have into science and research, and propelled us into thinking larger than we ever had. The Soviets’ success with Sputnik led us to develop the Internet and NASA.
• The Internet, without which so much of how I live my life would not be possible.
• The greatest city in the world, Manhattan, which inspires, challenges, and excites me daily.
• The New York Times, which enlarges and helps me understand my world.
• Barack Obama, who has already made the world a better place.
• Really. Good. Coffee.