- My health – without it, I’d be screwed. I couldn’t work, create, write, go out, dance, run, visit friends. Every day I am grateful and I work at keeping my health. I exercise, eat right and try to get plenty of rest.
- Having a job I don’t hate – I think of the people who get up every morning and dread going to the place they work and I thank my lucky stars that I am no longer one of them.
- My friends – I’ve lost some and I am grateful for the ones I still have, the ones I share my holidays with, the ones I chat on the phone with, the ones I go to see movies with (including the Hunger Games this weekend), the ones I go to museums with or just out for coffee or tea. They mean so much to me.
- A roof over my head – yes, the house is still a mess but I have a place and I am not living on the streets. (We’ve just finished picking the tile to begin the next phase or recovering from the flood).
- Food on my table – there have been times when food was scarce – I am grateful for the food I have and the fact that I make smart choices with my food dollars.
- Having a husband that goes to work every day and tries his best to keep going, it’s tough out there, but he is also.
- Utilities – Water, electricity and gas – I’ve lived without these and it is not fun or easy
- To live in a country where I can disagree with the leaders and not be executed for doing it.
- Freedom – You can complain all you want and you have that right – that’s a free country – it has problems, but I choose this over any other nation and the freedom we enjoy comes at a price. See the tenth item below.
- The men and women of the armed forces – who are not able to be with their family this holiday because they are serving and protecting this country.
- The cops, who despite the bad press they have been getting lately, risk their lives to enforce the law. Think of the chaos we would have if they were not around.
- Environmentalists – for trying to protect and preserve the planet for the next generation
- Writing – yes – words are powerful – they can move a nation or create one, they can make a wish come true for a dying child, they can make us laugh and cry.
- Cats and dogs – because they provide so much joy for so little.
- The life I am working to build – it isn’t perfect, but I have so many things in it to be grateful for.
May you have peace, joy and love this holiday.