The Thanks-Giving Post

With the arrival of Thanksgiving only a few short weeks away (how on earth did it get to be November already?!) my Facebook feed has started to become inundated with daily posts about what folks are thankful for this year. Having never partaken in this particular annual event, I thought I'd take a few moments to make a list of things I'm thankful for. So, without further ado:

1. I'm thankful that my previous employer laid off my entire department back in early 2006, because it gave me the motivation to make the move out west to California.


2. I'm thankful that I acted on that motivation.


3. I'm thankful I got a chance to reunite with two of my best friends, Beth and Brian, who had moved out to California the year before.


4. I'm thankful I ran into my old high school friend, Jeff, who promptly offered me a place to live which I'm still renting out seven years later.


5. I thankful that I met a group of friends that help reawaken my love for board games.


6. I'm thankful for those friends who have become the closest thing to family without actually being blood-related.


7. I'm thankful for my family and extended family, even though I don't speak with them or see them as often as I should.


8. I'm thankful that as I've grown older I've also grown to appreciate my family and extended family more, as they rightly deserve.


9. I'm thankful for my job at the television studio that allowed me the freedom to do so many things, like traveling overseas again, and introducing me to so many wonderful people who have become good friends, like Brian and Emily.


10. I'm thankful for Emily constantly asking me to join her and her friends for bar trivia, as it led to me being introduced to the first woman I've ever loved, Joanna.


11. I'm thankful for the two and a half years that I was given with Joanna, and all the ups and downs that went with it, because it was best time of my life and she helped me grow into a better person more than I could have ever done on my own.


12. I'm thankful that she reintroduced me to acting because it's something I love to do and it allowed me to meet so many amazing people that I never would have met otherwise.


13. I'm thankful that she is happy and more at peace now, even if it can't be with me or because of me.


14. I'm thankful that even though my brain tells me it's not realistic, my heart still holds out some tiny hope for second chances with happy endings.


15. I'm thankful that I accepted the risk to leave my stable, cushy job at the studio and finally try my hand at working professionally in theatre. I don't know if this is what I want to do with my life, but it's absolutely worth finding out one way or another.


16. I'm thankful that my parents are happy, healthy, retired and loving it.


17. I'm thankful my life has been mostly free of injury and illness (knock on wood).


18. I'm thankful that I still get fits of creative outburst, regardless of whether or not I follow through with them.


19. I'm thankful that corgis exist and that hopefully someday I will have one of my own.


20. I'm thankful for my love of cooking and my slowly expanding palette.


21. I'm thankful that my body has, for the most part, put up with my eyes continuing to be larger than my stomach and my brain continuing to think I'm still in my early twenties.


22. I'm thankful that great theatre performances can still fill me this overpowering glow for a few hours afterwards that makes me feel like anything is possible.


23. I'm thankful that there is still so much that I don't know and haven't experienced.


24. I'm thankful that very few things are cast in stone, and that the future holds almost infinite possibilities.