I am Thankful

I am thankful for all the good that fills my life.  I have so many blessings--big and small--to be grateful for.

I am thankful for the wonderful family I was born into-- where my sisters are my friends, my mom and dad always made me believe I could do and be anything I wanted, and there was no shortage of cousins and aunts to play with and visit.

I am thankful for the wonderful family I am marrying into--where I met the hilarious brothers I never had and found a second set of parents who have always been so kind and generous with me.

I am thankful for Matt, my magnificent companion in all our endeavors, who fills my life with love and joy and delicious things to eat.

I am thankful for my spunky, free-spirited friends who dance, climb, adventure, and play with me.

I am thankful for Montana.  There is no where else I'd rather be.

I am thankful for libraries with their endless books to read and information to discover.

I am thankful for sunshine and rainbows.

I am thankful for mountains and the good tidings they bring me.

I am thankful for live music and the transcendent glee that fills me up when I lose myself in dance.

I am thankful for the national parks--the precious cathedrals of nature--and all the good folks who have fought to ensure the preservation of these astounding places--especially the wilderness mystic John Muir and the dedicated ornithologist and editor George Bird Grinnell.

I am thankful for a house and tiny scrap of land to call our own and do what we will with.

I am thankful for Kurt Vonnegut the brilliant satirist who still holds the title of being my favorite author of all time.

I am thankful for my chance to make this world a better place.

I am thankful for living with a man who loves to cook and bake.

I am thankful for random acts of kindness.

I am thankful for knowing how to sew and mend and all the money its saved me and fun its given me.

I am thankful for my blog-friends and all the support and inspiration I've found in the blogging world.

I am thankful for trees for all the shade, food, oxygen, and homes for wild critters that they give--not to mention the beauty of the forest.

I am thankful for my childhood which I feel was a pretty darn good one.

I am thankful for bees and all the hard work they do keeping our food crops pollinated so that we have yummy things like strawberries, cherries, tomatillos, corn, and on and on and on.

I am thankful for the time I was able to spend experiencing the world abroad--no matter how brief it was life changing.

I am thankful for the Grateful Dead in all its incarnations from the original members to Furthur.

I am thankful for the stars and moon, comets, shooting stars, planets, and the rest of the ballet of the cosmos.

I am thankful for wool and its amazing ability to keep a body warm.

I am thankful for my job where I learn something new every single day.

I am thankful for being an American with all the rights and privileges that goes along with it.

I am thankful for a warm cup of tea on a cold, snowy day.

I am thankful for the changing seasons which each are awesome in their own magical, miraculous way.

I am thankful for audiobooks which make car travel and doing the dishes much more enjoyable.

I am thankful for bread in every way, shape, and form.

I am thankful for that big, blue Montana sky that seems to stretch beyond infinity.

I am thankful for fireflies which seem like a little bit of magic in insect form.

I am thankful for geysers and hot springs the power and beauty of which astonish me every time.

I am thankful for tiny babies and how they warm my heart--be it watching the wee bunnies chasing each other around in the grass or cuddling the precious infants of my friends and family.

And so many more things than I could every realistically hope to list.  Happy Thanksgiving.  May we all always have so many things to be grateful for.