10 Thing Thursday: Thankful Edition

Test run of the Mandarin Orange Cake I'm making for Thanksgiving

1. I’m thankful that my mom is healthy and active and wonderful and that our relationship is so, so good. Being with her in Paris made me appreciate her even more than usual. One of my chief preoccupations lately is figuring out how we can see more of each other. I love that lady.

2. I’m thankful that my sister lives in DC. She is my best friend, and I can’t imagine spending these last 15 years apart. I always feel sad for people who don’t have sisters; how do they survive?

3. I’m thankful for my job. Despite its frustrations, it’s a good job and I’m lucky to have it. My office sits right between two of my best friends. There are often baked goods available. I have health insurance, and a 401(k), and vacation time, and my hands have nary a callus. I even have my own printer.

4. I’m thankful for my health. I really need to value it enough to take more care of it. This is high on my to-do list. (Not that anything ever gets marked off, but still.)

5. I’m thankful for Lieu. I wish he hadn’t broken my heart, but I wouldn’t wish away the experience of knowing him. I don’t know yet exactly what the whole thing taught me, but I’m sure it will be valuable one day. I will make it be valuable.

6. I’m thankful for books. I read so much that I think it’s probably not good for me, contrary to popular opinion that one can never read enough. Books are my refuge and my happy place. I need them like oxygen, and I’m lucky that I have the resources to get my hands on nearly as many as I want.

7. I’m thankful for my apartment. Speaking of refuges…I wish it was above ground, but the free cable, washer and dryer, second bedroom, and private patio more than make up for it. Please, no one ever tell my landlord how much apartments in Mt. Pleasant actually cost. He’s charging Reality Bites-era prices, and me likey.

8. I’m thankful for Jeepers. I think this makes me a bad, materialistic, ecoterrorist kind of person, but I can’t help it. Every time I use my electronic entry and automatic windows, I feel a stab of giddiness.

9. I’m thankful for the internet, and the many ways I can access it at all times. Although I do wonder sometimes what I might be doing with all of my extra time if the web didn’t exist…I’m thinking ultra-marathons, probably. My phone was out of commission in Paris, and not being able to use it to figure out where to go and how to get there was positively crippling. Never leave me again, Android.

10. I’m thankful for the motley orphan Thanksgiving we’re having tomorrow at my sister’s place–ten people strong and climbing. I prefer my Thanksgivings crowded and a little bit random, and I prefer to spend them in DC because everyone else is gloriously gone gone gone. I’m kicking the weekend off with a blogger lady date tonight and I am seeing friends every day for the next four. I might make a Christmas craft too. I can’t wait.

Bonus: Love this poem I saw at Irretrievably Broken. good advice for every day, but maybe particularly for the holidays.

Compassion

Have compassion for everyone you meet,
even if they don’t want it. What seems conceit,
bad manners, or cynicism is always a sign
of things no ears have heard, no eyes have seen.
You do not know what wars are going on
down there where the spirit meets the bone.

–Miller Williams