No, Seriously, I Really Am Thankful

For... 

• The internet.  I love reconnecting with old friends and staying connected with new friends on Facebook, I love the ease and convenience of this blog and the friends I've made though it.  I love watching tv shows on Hulu and movies on Netflix and videos of kittens on YouTube.  I love wasting time playing stupid games, and shopping for things I'll never buy, and doing research, and reading comics, and, obviously, looking at photos of naked people.

• My pumpkin pie recipe.  I found it years ago in a magazine ad for a graham cracker pie crust.  Not being any kind of a cook, I had no idea at the time that it was atypical, but apparently making a pumpkin pie using only a can of pumpkin, a can of sweetened condensed milk, some spices and a graham cracker crust is kind of different.  It is extremely easy and yummy, though, and it's what I'll be taking to two different family households tomorrow to celebrate Thanksgiving (both of which specifically requested "my" pumpkin pie).

• Florida, which is so nice and sunny and toasty warm (even this week, it is still in the low 80's), and I'm only an hour or two away from both the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.  I love the humidity, I love the heat, I love the flat landscape that feels wide open, I love the plam trees, I love the little lizards running around everywhere and occasionally wiggling their tiny way into the space between our screens and our windows, then getting trapped and dying there. Okay, I do not love the tiny lizard carcass that has made one of our windows into its own personal graveyard.  Possibly I should take it out...  Ew, though.

• The library, without which I would not be able to read, well, basically any of the books that I go through. I only buy books when I really want to keep a book to read over and over (or reference repeatedly), and I still spend more money than I should.  I am additionally thankful for their delivery system, so I can just go on their website and request a book and have it brought right to my front door.  Sa-weet!

• My mother, who is one of the sweetest and kindest people I've ever known.  I talk to her every day at 8pm, after Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune are over, she calls me "honey" and every single night she's careful to ask me how Greg is doing.  She watches out for the other people in her retirement home, shares her daily newspaper with the man across the hall, and calls all our relatives on their birthdays.  She loves me and inspires me, and I love her right back.

• My sweetie-pants, who tells me he loves me every day, cuddles with me in the middle of the night if I have a nightmare, occasionally sends me sweet texts during my work day telling me how pretty I am or how much he's looking forward to seeing me after work, and not only supports me in my creative endeavors but is genuinely excited and enthusiastic (he even read my novel as I was writing it).  He makes my day to day life very comfortable and happy.

Happy Thanksgiving!