God Only Knows What I'd Be Without You

Thanksgiving is coming. Yes, yes it is. Which means that in the blogosphere everybody is going to get down wit the funky lists of things they are grateful for. Well, shee-it, I feel grateful NOW, so I’m going to beat the mad rush.

I am grateful & abundant. I am thankful for:

Love (the energy that fuels me)

Pain (that constant teacher, pushing me forward)

Peach Snapple (Georgia in a bottle.)

Curiosity (It hasn’t killed me yet.)

Family (Cause it’s fun to see what I’ve done with the same DNA.)

Friends & Lovers (I’m grateful for the time you’ve spent with me on the journey.)

My children (for teaching me how to be a parent and reminding me that I was once a kid too.)

Bloggy friends (Who remind me that friendship can overlap time zones.)

My bloggy enemies (For plotting against me, and therefore giving me a story arc.)

Emma Thompson (I wish she was narrating my life.)

Music (Because notes are words that can only be named by the heart.)

Bad television (Makes it easier to do homework.)

Really embarrassing situations (Cause later, after the humiliation dies down, you’ll not only be a hero for surviving it, you’ll have a great story to tell.)

Travel (Because to see the world is to realize how similar we all are.)

Gravity (Keeps us from falling onto the moon.)

The ground (Keeps us from sinking into the molten lava.)

Crayons (If world leaders took 30 minutes to color in coloring books each day, I have a feeling the world would be a much better place.)

Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (It’s the cheesiest.)

Harrison Ford (For being my generation’s John Wayne.)

Emotional scars (Because I earned them & they are mine.)

Impromptu Haiku (the best kind)

Ben and Jerry's (Because ice cream tastes better when the flavors have cool names.)

Curb Your Enthusiasm (It’s like a martini with a prozac chaser.)

Garrison Keillor (Because that fatherly, comforting voice is steady and loving in a way that my own father’s voice wasn’t.)

My dad (For liking books, voting for Clinton, and showing me that we are all flawed human beings.)

The shadows created by candlelight (A different sort of illumination occurs.)

A Different World (Because that Lisa Bonet was all kinds of hot.)

Roger Ebert (Who proves that you can be critical without being an asshole.)

Yarn (Important to humans and cats.)

Coffee (I like to flavor my sugar and cream with it.)

Jumping off metaphorical cliffs (It’s worth the risk. Always.)

iTunes (It’s nice to know that if I want to find old episodes of Knight Rider or that “Jackie Blue” song, I can.)

Climbing stairs (Sometimes it feels good to be out of breath.)

Cold, crisp nights where the stars are sharp and clear (To remember what awe is.)

The ocean on a black night, with a roar that goes on forever (To understand what sublimity is.)

TCM (Because Paul Simon was wrong…Everything looks better in black and white.)

Iced tea (Because it's the world's most perfect drink.)

Burning cds for friends (Because nothing says I care about you more than making you listen to my favorite Rita Coolidge songs.)

Myrna Loy as Nora Charles in The Thin Man (Sigh… I wish I was Nick. Nora’s irresistible when she wrinkles her nose.)

The 4 Kisses (The “I like you” kiss, the “I love you” kiss, the “The Oh My” kiss, and Hershey’s Kisses. If you get all 4 in one night, treasure it!)

Books (To help me find the words I’ve been looking for.)

Fallen leaves (To remind me that even death has a strange beauty and that "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of your philosophy.")

A glass of red wine (So I can release stress and pretend to be French.)

Floss Picks (Do you really want to go back to the old floss? I didn’t think so.)

Different fonts (Helping to keep life interesting.)

And last but not least, I'm grateful to *YOU* for reading this. Yes, YOU! :)