With any luck I’ll be out of town for Thanksgiving so I thought I’d better write this post now.
First of all, I wish all of you a wonderful turkey — uh … I mean Thanksgiving! If you don’t like turkey on Thanksgiving then I wish you a happy “whatever-you-like-to-eat” day. I hope you all relax and enjoy family, friends and possibly shopping (if you’re one of those people who actually goes to the Black Friday things. I don’t, but whatever floats your boat, you know?)
It is always important to count your blessings and recognize all the good things you have right in front of you. Life is too short to be caught up in all the things you don’t have, so I hope all of you are able to take a moment next week and really appreciate the people and traditions that make up who you are.
For me, I am grateful for quite a few things but I’ll go ahead and narrow it down to six.
#1) Always and forever, I am grateful for my son. He brings me more joy and fulfillment than anything else. I might have come reluctantly to the role of parent but now I cannot imagine my life without him.
#2) I am grateful for my mother. I never fully understood my mother until I became a parent myself. Now that I know the worry and pain that comes with the title of “mother” I am far more appreciative of everything she sacrificed for me while I was growing up.
#3) I am grateful for my cat. Yes, he’s obnoxious and starts meowing at me whenever I get on the phone — apparently he thinks I should be talking to him instead of whoever might be on the other line. Yes, he sometimes gets a wild hair and goes tearing through the apartment at full speed. And yes, he rage-vomits whenever I take a weekend away, but I’ve come to expect it now and am prepared whenever I come home. But the truth is, when Hazen is asleep and everything is quiet in the house, there’s nothing quite like having my cat on my lap, purring up a storm.
#4) I am grateful for my writing friends. These include Alpha Readers, Beta Readers, Authors who I’ve had the privilege of Alpha or Beta reading for, and even those many people I follow on Google+ who make me laugh with their comments and struggles on a daily basis. As lonely a job as writing might be, all of these people share the journey of novel creation with me. I might have given up long ago if not for them.
#5) I’m grateful for my Readers. I super loves all of you! You’re all awesome for taking the time out of your lives to read what I’ve put down on paper.
#6) I am grateful for school. As exasperating as it might be, and as much as I bemoan all the writing time that school sucks up, it has been an incredible experience to go back to school. I graduate in May and I am excited to see where I’ll end up next.
There are, of course, many, many, many more things I am thankful for. Things like turkey and mountains and snow and Christmas with a five-year-old (it’s going to be a blast!) I could fill a hundred pages with all the things I am thankful for, but I promised to keep this narrowed down. I hope everyone else feels as overwhelmingly blessed as I do.
Happy Thanksgiving (several days early). I hope you have a wonderful holiday.
AJMaguire 