Thanksgiving has never been my favorite holiday. If I’m being honest, it’d probably be my least if I had to rank them. These days, I don’t have any family that celebrates or cooks, and I obviously have conflicting feelings about how we’ve treated the Native American culture and the fact that, as Jess Day put it, we’re celebrating the fact that we “didn’t know how to farm by ourselves”. If I’m being honest, I also kind of dislike that lots of people wait till this time of year to express gratitude. We should appreciate life every single day, even when we feel like we’ve been dealt a shitty hand.
The sparkly lining is that people are more likely to talk about what they’re thankful for right about now, so I take the opportunity to ask my fellow Baltimoreans that very thing. (And I would love it if you would share what you are grateful for in the comments.)
As per usual, the answers were a mixed bag, including:
Pizza!
Soap
Love <3
Craft beers
Ingress
Netflix Instant: Really? How did we live for so long without it?
Jesus
My kids
Suboxone
Friends!
Bailey (my dog)
The baby in my belly 🙂
God’s grace
Decriminalization of marijuana in Maryland
People who write stupid shit (with an arrow pointing to the above response)
My family 🙂
Life
Silver medals
“Snow drift”
Dog
And to put my money where my mouth is, here is my list: When Bug lays on top of my feet Cleavage The healing power of Joe’s cuddles How hot Christ Pratt is The accessibility of craft supplies in the US The way my vanilla candle makes my room smell yummy The way Cristen and I can just make random noises back and forth for minutes straight without speaking normally 80’s movies Being able to see the stars Science How comfortable you feel when you wake up in bed without an alarm clock Water Sex Being able to send gifs on my phone Guys who have beards wearing flannel Piano solos Sharing casseroles with my cat Puns My car Ability to receive (and send) mail When my friends describe me as “colorful” Not having a 9-5 job Lipstick that stays on all day Dogs in costume
Speaking of being thankful, I’ve actually really been feeling that way lately because I’ve been going through a lot of pictures and video footage from the first eleven months of this year in preparation for 2014 to come to a close, and while we still have a very healthy month left to conquer the world, I’m extremely glad that I’ve been able to have the experiences I have so far this year, and I really really love my life.
For the Get Messy Art Journal prompt today (focus on one word that describes you right now), I chose “thankful”, and I copied Ashley‘s washi tape page idea.
I hope that you will take some time today (and every day for the next year) to note what you are lucky enough to have, experience, and be on this Earth of ours.
Check out last year’s installation
Gratefully yours,
I’m grateful for so much! Yes, my life is very shitty due to my disability, but I remain grateful for many things. The list includes: a house to live in, the mail system, books, the Internet, friendships, baths, tea, art supplies, heat (and A/C in the summers), and yarn. I hope you have a great day, Mary! Thank you for being awesome.
What a great list! I’m grateful for all those things, too, although I dislike tea. Haha. But that’s nit-picky! I hope you have a great day, too.
Whenever I get to writing (or thinking of!) a list of things to be thankful for, I can’t keep up with myself and eventually I reach something like “Earth” or “the universe” or “existing” and then I’m thankful for being able to be thankful for those things–holy cannoli, you should see the insides of my head one day.
That being said, you gotta know how much I’m thankful for YOU and knowing people like you exist because you’re here writing about it. Thanks a million, Fabulous. ♥
That’s amazing, actually. I hope that everyone is able to gather that much perspective by writing gratitude lists! And thank you, love. You’re beautiful.
this is so good–love your list..happy thanksgiving woman!!
Thanks Sharon! Happy Thanksgiving to you, too.
COLOR! LOVE! WASHI! I am thankful to internet know someone as spontaneous as you!
Aw thank you, Vanessa. That’s such a great compliment! Happy belated Thanksgiving.