Gratitude

[elrhiarhodan]

A recent dialogue with a dear friend reminded me of the importance of being grateful for all the small joys and great ones in life.



I am most grateful for fandom. It has brought richness and connection and community to my life that I cannot imagine ever foregoing. It is the wellspring of so many other things I am grateful for.

I am grateful for everyone who gave me hugs and gifs and pics and did everything they could to help shake me out of my malaise yesterday. It worked, most splendidly.

I am grateful for all of my friends on the wcwu chat, because I know that every night of the week, rain or snow or shine, I can hop on and find someone to talk to for a little while. And you know what I'm really grateful for? No matter how early or how late I sign off, someone's always there to say "good night, sleep well." I live alone but I am never lonesome because of these wonderful people.

I am grateful for my on-line acquaintances who've taken the risk/plunge and crossed the line into real life friendships. Even though I have yet to met some of you in the flesh, you are still my friends and are very dear to me. You all make my life so much better.

Adding the handful (and it really is a very small handful) of friends who only know me outside of this forum (and thus will never see this post), I am grateful beyond measure to all my friends, who put up with me despite my sometimes caustic and inappropriate wit, my occasional bad moods and unreasonable sulks, and my often difficult personality.

I am grateful for possessing a small talent to put together words into stories that people want to read. I am grateful to readers who have taken the time to let me know that they've enjoyed and appreciated my stories.

I am grateful that I have a interesting job working for someone who is both highly ethical AND the smartest person in the room. I am also grateful that the job also allows me time to write and otherwise participate in fandom.

I am grateful for my health, which could always be better, but has been a lot worse. I am grateful that I got a kick in the pants that changed my life before I didn't have a life left.

I am grateful for the beautiful walls that shelter me every night and the sense of peace and belonging I receive whenever I return home.

I am grateful for the everyday beauty in my life, like the maple sapling that's growing outside my window. Butterflies have mated on it, birds have nested it in, and even though the gardeners cut it every year, it keeps growing skyward.

There are so many other things and people I am grateful for - the surviving members of my tiny family and the memories of happiness that we share. I am grateful to be part of a culture that appreciates intellectual gifts as much as physical ones. I am grateful for the silly things, too - like coffee in the morning, the half of a box of kleenex I've gone through writing this sappy entry.

And I'm grateful for these lovely creations most of all (you didn't think I'd leave you without a bonus Bomer or two, or eight?)

















(source: Emral Yucel, Artist, and/or Tuna Talay)