Thanks

Yes, this is a week early, but Thanksgiving week is kind of crazy around the ol' Authorial Household, so HAPPY THANKSGIVING a week early!

Thanksgivings are a time of comfortable, familiar traditions. For instance, if you read my blog from last Thanksgiving here, or the one before it here, you'd know exactly what I am and continue to be thankful for.

This year, I'm going to flesh out the list of things I'm thankful for a little more:

1. Patience. Not so much in me, of course--patience is one of my revolving New Year's Resolutions, something I always need to work on. No, I'm more thankful for other people's patience. I'm thankful for my husband's patience when I babble on about imaginary people's lives at dinner. I'm thankful for the Lovely Mary's (Grammar Goddess) patience to put up with me at work, and willingness to read every single book. I'm thankful for my family's patience (and willingness to bite their tongues) when I do something they think is stupid--but they support me anyway. And I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am that The Kid has a wise, patient kindergarten teacher. Patience. It's a wonderful thing.

2. Those who are here. Gram is now officially 95 1/2. Every year we get with her is another year to be thankful for. Similarly, my great-aunt just broke her hip at age 90--but is improving every day. I didn't go to a single funeral this year. In a time filled with war, terror, and random acts of violence, I'm thankful that my family has been spared from tragedy.

3. Those who aren't. A large part of my free time (HA!) recently has been spent on my other grandmother's manuscript. I never knew her, but she raised my father and his eight (count 'em) brothers and sisters. After living with her written words for so long, I feel closer to her now than I ever have. Similarly, I've been talking about Gram's husband, my grandfather, to The Kid a lot recently (he likes the pictures of Grandpa holding all the fish on the wall). Even though these people and others have gone on before me, I'm thankful for them nonetheless. They make me more whole as a person.

4. Those who are coming. This upcoming year, I figure to be an aunt, twice over. The Kid is dying to be a 'big brother,' and cannot wait to meet his future 'little bears.' (We read a lot of Berenstein Bears.) He's got big plans for those babies, just as soon as they can sit upright. I think racing Hot Wheels and trains figures prominently into his plans.

So, remember--there's a holiday that comes between Halloween and Christmas, and that holiday is called Thanksgiving. Make sure you stop and give thanks.