Last week T.S. Bazelli posted about Practicing Gratefulness on her blog. A Canadian, her post had no apparent connection to our U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving, but the confluence is a good enough reason to practice it. Here are a few of the things for which I practice gratitude.
-I can walk. I can't exaggerate how nice it is to travel to the bathroom without thinking about it. As someone who has been on crutches, in wheelchairs, and bedridden at separate points in his life, free movement is one of my unabashed pleasures. If this bothers any anti-ableist folks, I'd like to hear from you.
-I live in a house with light and heat whenever I want it, and frequently some fulfilling food is available. Again, can't exaggerate this privilege.
-I'm thankful for my family, both those blood relatives and dear friends who have been worth investing emotion in. They make the social aspect of life worthwhile. I’m correspondingly grateful that I can ignore and eject people who aren’t worth having in my life.
-To God. He knows why.
-To people who catch wordplay jokes.
-The internet in my country has not yet been gravely censored or broken down into bandwidth throttling price structures.
-Readers who visit daily or semi-daily and find this work of mine worthwhile. Your comments, Likes, Loves and retweets make my days better. I’m grateful to every reader here, and every listener for Consumed. It’s why we do what we’re doing.
-Speaking of readers, how can’t I be grateful to my beta readers? And those who have agreed to jump in as theta readers after the next round of edits. I’ve worked damn hard to make The House That Nobody Built the best thing I’ve ever written, and these are folks who’ve consented their considerable intellects to help me. I’ll remain forever in gratitude to them until one of the bastards says he doesn’t like the book. Then all bets are off.
-Multiple times this year I've been struck by gratitude for being able to play so many new videogames. I think I've hit five this year, with Portal 2 and Bastion leading the pack. There were years when I couldn't afford a single one. It's one of my favorite hobbies, especially on the nights when the syndrome acts up too badly for me to sleep.
-And you better believe I’m grateful for when sleep comes easily. Have a nice day, all, and an easy night after that.
Counter est. March 2, 2008
Well said, John. Happy Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteNot much one can add to that!
ReplyDeleteI ditto most of that. Except for the game playing thing - haven't had the pleasure of playing many new (or old for that matter) games.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving ;) When sleep comes easy, oh that is such a great feeling. To really be rested? Far rarer than not.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't ahve put it in a better way, John. I'm happy that you have so much to be thankful for. (btw, did you ever send me your ms?)
ReplyDeleteOh, I miss reading your stories... Might be able to get back online soon tho. ;)
An excellent list, John. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteI'm thankful for all of you folks, too, naturally. And Mari, I've been out of touch with you for so long that I'd just assumed you were preoccupied. What's shaking?
ReplyDeleteLove your list, John, very well said.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thanksgiving, and hope you have an awesome weekend ahead :)
To keep it simple, after a life-scare a couple of years ago, I think the most important thing I'm thankful for is being alive. Everything somehow, sooner or later, falls into place from there.
Happy Thanksgiving! And yes, Portal two is awesome. I was especially happy to discover, after telling Dave how I procrastinated, that it's been on his wishlist for months- so after I finish watching the playthrough with Jemma this break I'll be seeing it in real time as Dave plays it through. More Wheatley! Yay!
ReplyDeleteHey John. Yeah, I've been a bit busy with real life stuff, but not busy enough to prevent me from keeping my promises! ;P
ReplyDeleteI should be back to writing and blogging in a couple of months, but until then I'll make time to check your ms if you still care for an opinion, and if it's not too late (like if you're already trying to sell it). :)