Obligatory

[torquill]

Here is is, the day at the start of The Holidays -- that five-week period of craziness at the end of the year. There is a period of meditation slated for Thanksgiving, almost like a religious holiday of sorts, to reflect and give thanks before embarking on the madcap consumerism of the next four weeks.


So what am I thankful for? Health tops the list, as it has for several years now; I wouldn't be able to do anything I have been doing (save perhaps chatting on the computer) without the strength I've won back over the last four years. I'm doing well enough that I can count myself a normal person again, but I'm not sure I'll ever forget how close the chasm lies.

Friends... even the ones I haven't seen in ages are still untapped wealth, and slip back into place like they were never gone when we do get a chance to see each other. And the new ones (you know who you are) offer untold possibilities.

A place to live. It's something I wouldn't think about, if I hadn't gotten to the point of relying entirely on charity... without someone to take me in and pay my essential bills, I would have been in a cardboard box since 1998.

A family who understands, supports me emotionally and financially, and can actually afford to prop me up until I become self-sufficient again. Such families are in woefully short supply.

A social system where I can get an education in anything I desire, provided I'm willing to work for it. Heck, the ability to walk and talk and dress as I please, in public or out of it. We'd have a long way to go before we became as bad as some parts of the world, and women are traditionally repressed.

I could add a few more (what geek isn't thankful for the 'net?) but those are the biggies. Sentimental sappiness aside, sometimes it's good to step back, take a long look at what you've got, and consider what's really important. It's too easy to get caught up in all the everyday minutiae -- like how on earth you're going to get a parking space in Broadway Plaza anytime in the next month.

Speaking of which...

I start work tomorrow. I'll be doing the late shift from 1-9pm; I don't envy James, who agreed to take the morning and set out traffic cones at 5am. The mall may not open until 9, but that didn't stop Macy's, Penny's, and the Disney Store. Thank God everything opens at a sane hour from Saturday on.

I've been describing my job as "dodging cars for money". Someone said that actually made it sound exciting. I'll try to remember that when I'm on my sixth hour of standing in the same intersection, trying to remember that the person attempting to cut across traffic was not the same driver who tried to pull that trick twenty minutes ago, even though after a few hours all the cars look the same.

Comments

[cadhla.livejournal.com]

Hey, bunny.

Happy Thanksgiving.