the Wandering Author's Thanks This Year

On Thanksgiving Day, it seems appropriate to pause and give thanks, at least briefly, for those things we may not always appreciate as fully as we should. First, of course, I am thankful simply to be here on this earth. Most of us take it for granted, but life is a precious gift, and one without which we could not enjoy any other. I am thankful for Zachary Michael, my grandson, who was only recently granted this gift.

I am thankful for Andre, my son-in-law, who joined our family this year. I am thankful for Carol, a cousin who lives in Ireland and who I met for the first time this autumn, and for the rest of my family, those I'm close to, those I've met, those I've only written to, and those I've never had the chance to meet. I'm thankful for all the wonderful cats I've had the pleasure to know and love over the years, and especially for those who are sharing my life now.

I'm thankful no one lost their life, or was even seriously injured, in yesterday's explosion in Danversport, a result that seems miraculous. I'm thankful for all the writers and bloggers I've met this past year, as I began my own blog. I'm thankful for a wonderful new job, doing something I believe in. I'm thankful that it seems there may be a slight chance I will be able to finish NaNoWriMo after all, and that the novel I'm working on, although it will require extensive editing, does seem to have the potential to be an interesting book.

Finally, I'm thankful for so many little things it is impossible to list them all, tiny little bright spots. There are so many things in our lives that we enjoy but seldom stop to give thanks for. For various reasons, I'd given up using fountain pens a few years back, and just bought new bottles of ink and filled a few of my old pens so I could use them again a month or so ago. I'm thankful for fountain pens, and especially for my brand new, beautiful transparent amber Pelikan M250 fountain pen which arrived on Tuesday.

It may not seem like much, and there certainly are greater things to be thankful for, but whatever your "fountain pens" are, whatever holds that place in your life, don't forget to be thankful even for the small things, for the birds chirping in the bushes as you stroll outside, for the taste of a chocolate eclair, for a bottle of root beer, for whatever little things make each day a joy. Take the time to notice them, to enjoy them, and to be thankful for them.