I've always loved Thanksgiving. I could pretty much eat nothing but pumpkin pie for the rest of my life, and its good to sit down and be grateful for what you have. Plus at my parents' house, its when the Christmas tree goes up and is decorated, and its the beginning of the holiday season, which is my favorite time of year. This one has been pretty interesting- both of my partners in hiking bailed last-minute- one had a late night and the other got sick, No worries, I thought, shit happens. Then my phone decided it didn't want to work anymore. I was able to reach my friend Michael and make plans with him for later but I missed my call from one of my best friends, also known as my wife, who was calling from London. Not cool. I spent most of my Thanksgiving hike fuming about that, and forgot to chant at the top like I meant to, instead plotting how I was going to give Sprint ten kinds of hell about it. After a nice hot shower and fixing my phone by rebooting it, I know that's just silly. Why am I telling you this? To avoid sounding too smaltzy when I now count the things I am thankful for:
1. I lost 50 pounds! Woo hoo! Yes, I have gone from plus-size to...higher end of regular size, and from cute to hot, but more than that, I am proud that I persevered and made the life changes needed to do it, and I'm a stronger person for it.
2. I am thankful for my family, friends, all my loved ones, especially for the ones that tell me the truth even when they know its going to piss me off. Special mention to my producing partner, Kevin Held, who does that a lot.
3. I am so thankful I found Buddhism, and for all the growth manifested by my chanting and study. I know I'm a better person for it. Certainly much calmer. Its also brought some wonderful people into my life.
4. I am thankful my right eye was injured, because it forced me to chill on a permanent basis. I am even more thankful it healed and I can do whatever I want again.
5. I am thankful that Landslide is going so well, and that the team I have assembled is such a wonderful group of people I would want in my life irregardless.
6. I am thankful that my sister found such a wonderful partner, and I hope all of us Gattone kids find someone as perfect for us.
7. I am thankful for those relationships that have improved since this time last year, and I am thankful for all the ways my life has improved so much in the last year (and it has!).
8. I am thankful that I can count myself among those who love me. I am so thankful that while being comfortable with yourself exactly as you are can be a struggle sometimes (especially when you're a bigger girl), I manage to do it the vast majority of the time. I know what I'm capable of, and I love myself for all of those things. Its great- you should try it!
9. Last of all, I am so thankful for those things that have brought me to my knees this year. While I'm not quite at the Buddhist mantra of turning poison into medicine and being grateful for obstacles, one of the themes of Landslide was that sometimes things don't turn out the way you want them to- they turn out better. I've had some crazy awful things happen this year. I am so thankful that in each and every case, however miserable I may have been when something went awry, it ultimately turned out so much better than if it had gone the way I wanted it to.
10. I suppose there should be a tenth, that would only make sense. Okay, I'm thankful for beer. Beer is awesome.
