11/22/15
i'm thankful for my birthday letter from d, which is the best letter i've ever received. i'm thankful for the last of my wonderful presents from her. i'm thankful that she took me out to lunch and, though it was raining on the way to the restaurant, it started snowing while we were sitting in the booth waiting for our food. i'm thankful that the first snow of the year was on my birthday, which felt magical. i'm thankful that though the restaurant streamlined their menu and did not have the sandwiches we originally wanted to order, the sandwiches we did order were delicious: a chicken sandwich with brie and a club with a mysterious sweetness.
i'm thankful that as we walked home through the cold, the big wet flakes of snow began to stick to the ground. i'm thankful for the oddity, because it is the first snow of the year and because it has been wet and warm lately, of the white snow coating bright green grass, which is a rare juxtaposition. i'm thankful for the way the large tree in our backyard sheltered a portion of the yard from the snow, creating an interesting pattern. i'm thankful that while noticing this, i made eye contact with our next door neighbor, who was on his back patio smoking a cigarette, and i'm thankful for the smile we shared. i'm thankful he and his fiancee are good neighbors who are quiet and easy to get along with. i'm thankful for d and i bundling up under the throw on the couch and drinking pineapple flavored tea to warm up from the snowy cold.
i'm thankful for the incredibly generous birthday gift that my parents gave me. i'm thankful for my grandfather and grandmother (who are both now dead), for making it possible for them to give me the gift. i'm thankful for the possibilities the gift represents.
i'm thankful for the other day when i pointed out to a visiting lecturer that we were wearing matching plaid shirts and i put my forearm up against his and there was a tiny moment of connection with him. i'm thankful for another visiting lecturer, with whom i play a childish game in which we shoot each other with invisible guns from different vantage points in the office. i'm thankful for the other visiting lecturer, who often asks for my help editing her sentences and who treats me like an expert. i'm thankful for the fourth visiting lecturer, who i don't speak to much but who is always nice and who one day recently brought in bagels and coffee for the office for no reason in particular.
i'm thankful to listen to d, in a flow state trance, murmuring css parameters to herself on the other side of the couch.
i'm thankful for the trouble i had running on the treadmill yesterday, even if it made me feel bad, because of how much more respect it gives me for d's daily treadmill workouts. i'm thankful that even though it's cold today, i'll be able to bundle up and go out and get a good workout. i'm thankful for my electric bass. i'm thankful that i've been able to come to this instrument at this point in my life and i'm thankful for the joy that playing it gives me. i'm thankful for the smooth roundness of the flatwound strings.
i'm thankful that i finished reading greg hrbek's not on fire, but burning and i'm thankful it was such an amazing novel. i'm thankful for the radioactive beauty of his prose. i'm thankful, especially given what's going on in the world right now, for the thoughtful and complex way his book deals with islamophobia and with the oblique, mystical way he processes tragedy. i'm thankful that i was able to read the book and i'm also thankful that it's over, because it was intense. i'm thankful that i have lots of great books to choose from to read next and a lot of time to read them.
i'm thankful that my stomach seems to be doing better. i'm thankful that even though there are some side effects to my new medication so far which i am not crazy about, i'm sleeping very well. i'm thankful that my vacation is only just beginning and that there is so much time and so much fun to be had.
i'm thankful for the story of d's boss's daughter, who received a piñata for her birthday but decided that it was too beautiful to destroy.