(sonia)

i'm thankful that i had a nice talk with n last night. i thought that he would be busy going out with friends but it turns out that's scheduled for thursday. i'm thankful for rabb.it, which lets us watch orphan black together while still video chatting so it feels a couple degrees closer to actually being together. i'm thankful my internet didn't drop out randomly like it has been (fuck you, comcast). i'm thankful that we (mostly) like the same characters and hate the same subplots and laugh at the same jokes, but even when we disagree we can talk about it and it's not a big deal. i'm thankful for the silliness of kissing each other goodbye via webcam, because you can't actually see the lips when they're that close up, but it feels good anyway. i'm thankful that our relationship has continued to grow after almost a whole year living in different parts of the country.

i'm thankful that even though long-distance does hurt, and we both feel lonely sometimes, that i still feel that this school was the best choice that i could have made for graduate school. i'm thankful for the climate, which is very similar to what i have experienced in summers all my life, so it wasn't a shock to move here. i am also very thankful for air conditioning, and for my navy blue poncho when the air conditioning is too cold. i'm thankful that n texted me this morning about how there was an issue on the metro again that messed up his commute. even though the issue was annoying, i like to be reminded about how DC has a public transit system that is much more accessible than the one here. i'm thankful to have learned that having public transit, especially trains, is very important to me. i'm thankful to be able to learn from experiences that are frustrating, and thankful to be able to recognize that car-driving everywhere is just a way of life for a lot of places.

i'm thankful that i got to listen to my "female pop awesome" playlist while working on a task for my advisor today. i'm thankful that i can still sing along to a lot of the music that i listened to over and over again when i was in late high school/early college, but don't listen to anymore. i'm thankful that the work i was doing required enough attention that i couldn't listen to podcasts, but could listen to familiar music. i'm thankful for my office, of which i am the sole inhabitant most hours of the day, so i can dance and sing along to my Fame-era Lady Gaga and almost all of 19 and 21 by Adele. i'm thankful for the "kickdrum. . . " moment in Don't Fucking Tell Me What to Do (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuReA-Z0rvU) i'm thankful that when one coworker did comment that i was laughing a lot while listening to a podcast and working last week, i didn't feel embarrassed. i'm thankful that i actually enjoyed the task that i was doing, because it felt a little bit like solving a mystery except the clues were just vague journal citations. i'm thankful to feel comfortable in the solitude.

i'm thankful that when i went for a walk around campus as a break from staring at a computer screen, there was a sign outside the campus art gallery advertising an event, so i walked in having never been in before. i'm thankful that i arrived just in time to follow the vault tour down to the basement to see the collection not exhibited in the galleries. i'm thankful for museum curators who are so clearly excited to share their love of art with other people. people whose enthusiasm just bubbles over and who are eager to share and spread information and get to know the visitors. i'm thankful to have gone to a college with one of the best art collections in the country, and i'm thankful for the art history classes that i took which gave me some context for the things that we saw in the vault. i'm thankful to feel a bit smug about how my liberal arts college's art collection is bigger than my prestigious graduate school's art collection, even if that is pretty bougie thing to be smug about. i'm thankful that the summer allows me to take the time to explore this school's resources, which i have really not been able to do since i moved here last august. i'm thankful that i will be able to share some of the things i find with my friends here. i'm thankful for the slowness and laziness that i feel, even though summer is almost over. i'm thankful that even when it is over i will have the same social supports that brought me through the past year, but i am also thankful that i only have a year left before i can be with my beloved again and we can start our lives together.

- sonia (7/18/17). twitter @lakemole