Time to give thanks!  I know how fortunate and blessed I am, and give thanks every day in my mind to whatever higher power has brought me this amazing life.  But sometimes it’s good to say it out loud.

I am thankful for (in no particular order):

• Healthy children who have grown up to be wonderful, accomplished young men.
• An amazing stepson who is the third child I always wanted.
• My husband, in so many ways that I don’t have room to spell them out.  He’s the kindest person I know.  Over the last 8 years, he has made such an effort to get to know himself and to change damaging thinking that kept him from appreciating and enjoying his life.  He continues to evolve and that’s what makes our relationship interesting and exciting.  I have fun with him no matter what we are doing — even grocery shopping.  Sometimes I think about what my life would be like now with my 2 sons grown up and out on their own.  I’d be a crazy dog lady hoarder if good fortune had not brought my husband and my stepson to me.
• 22 years in a job I love.  The work gets me revved up every day.  I get to make a difference in people’s lives and change the world, and they PAY me for it.
• Skype!  Just learned to use it and now I am visiting with my dear sister every Friday when my grandson is here.  So much fun and way better than a phone call.  I also got to see my Rhode Island son last night via Skype — a real treat for thirsty Mom eyes.
• Financial solvency.  Spent a lot of time in scary fingernail-biting scenarios with 3 mortgages, bankruptcy, utility company workers coming to shut off the electricity, garnished wages and other stuff I’ve repressed.  Slowly (after excising the source of the trouble) I rebuilt my credit rating and my finances.  I never take this for granted and always have a heart-pounding moment when someone is considering my credit rating, remembering being embarrassed in lots of public settings.
• My adorable healthy grandson and the privilege I have been given to see him every week.  I have never felt as much joy as I have since he was born.
• My dogs.  Mischief and unconditional love, wrapped in 2 cute puppy suits.
• A home that is warm, dry, safe and comfortable.  I really love my house and can’t believe I’ve lived here 30 years, because I still get excited when I drive up the driveway and see it.
• My education.  Amazing academic public high school for girls only (and I am still in touch with many of them — thank you, Facebook!), a true liberal arts education at a fine university, and a law degree from another fine university.  I did it with financial aid and lots of student loans, and when I look back now, I am amazed at how lucky I was to attend such wonderful schools without having any money.
• My relative good health.  There are some issues here and there in the old body, of course, after 61 years of constant usage, but I can walk and think and hear and see, and that is a huge blessing.  I know so many people who can’t do these things.
• Growing up without restrictions being placed on me because I was female. My parents were pretty old-fashioned so I am not sure how I escaped their commanding me to be a nurse or a teacher (fine professions, of course), but maybe I just wasn’t listening to them, which happened quite often.
• The Internet.  It’s a blessing and a curse, because all the information in the world is available to me but at the same time, all that information is so seductive that I have trouble stopping!
• Good friends and colleagues who have been so helpful and loving to me.  I have become less and less social as the years go by, preferring my own company to that of anyone else’s, but there are still a few people who can make me laugh out loud and with whom I can enjoy a cozy cup of coffee.
• Freedom from oppression, freedom to speak my mind politically and intellectually, freedom to vote as I choose — our country may have its problems, but it is still a great stroke of luck to have been born an American.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!