What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? [Archive]

twickster

11-21-2006, 07:39 PM

Alice The Goon

11-21-2006, 07:58 PM

There is so much! Good job with a recent nice raise, good friends who accept me, good family who love me, great kids, nice winter weather. A car to drive, a home to live in. My new boyfriend.

Life is good.

sunstone

11-21-2006, 08:30 PM

I'm thankful for my family, even if it will be only my wife and myself Thursday. Circumstances made us all meet just a few days ago....I am thankful for having a good mother-in-law, even if she is no longer with us. To have 5 generations of people come together, many carrying the same morals that she instilled in her son and daughter was inspiring. Not a sad day, but a release for her.

Thanks, Alice...go with love.

fessie

11-21-2006, 08:39 PM

This time last year was one of the worst periods of my adult life, and right now is one of the best. I'm thankful for my husband's new job, our marriage, our amazing kids, our (first) house, our families and friends. In particular I'm thankful for online communities, here and elsewhere; I so need places where I can learn, laugh, vent, and occasionally make a total ass of myself.

anu-la1979

11-21-2006, 08:53 PM

I recently found out that I passed what most people consider the hardest bar in the country. Now I'm going to have 2 bar licenses and I have a pretty solid vision of where I want my career to go (which is definitely away from California at some point). My mom, dad and sister are still my favourite people in the whole world.

Really, life couldn't get any better unless the post office put my Netflix movies in my po box a little faster than they currently do.

Misnomer

11-21-2006, 11:15 PM

I will be starting a new job in less than 2 weeks, and I'm very thankful for it: I'll be working for a large, well-known and well-respected company; I'll be making 5K more than I do now (and I just had a raise in October); it'll be my first time walking into a new job as an expert in my field; the work will be challenging and potentially very rewarding; and things at my current company go further downhill every day -- which breaks my heart, but also reminds me that leaving is the right decision.

I'm thankful for the class I'm taking this semester. The 20-page research paper that is my final project is kicking my ass (3 more weeks!), but it's been a good class with a good professor and I'm learning so much that I will need when it's time to write my thesis.

No one in my family lives south of the Maryland/Virginia state line. Thankfully. :D

I have two incredible best friends, and their 5-year-old son thinks that I hang the moon ... I'd have to be nuts to not be thankful for them.

I'm thankful for the SDMB. No, really! I've never been a member of an online community for this long before, and I've gotten so much out of this place -- including at least one real-life friendship.

There's lots of other stuff I'm thankful for, but those are the biggies. :)

Quasimodem

11-21-2006, 11:45 PM

Another year of relatively good health, despite the rheumatoid arthritis in my hands.

I'm 56 and work in the ER of my hospital, and every time I see a young man or woman in their 30's come in, in cardiac arrest, it's the proverbial "wake-up call" for me.

Yeah. Definitely my health, and to echo the sentiments of a previous Doper, SDMB and the very fine people who are a part of it.

Thanks

Q

MerryMagdalen

11-22-2006, 04:46 AM

I'm going to follow Quasimodem a bit and say that since I work at a hospital and see sick people much younger than me, I'm glad for my health.

I turn 30 on Friday, and for a while it was doubtful I would see that birthday. So for that I'm grateful.

My mom and my dad have been married for 32 years and all of us will be together for the holiday. Yeah, they had to sell the house I grew up in, but it will still be all of us and that's what matters.

Caprese

11-22-2006, 04:58 AM

Well, the husband and I are both still unemployed, but we have:
Our health, some savings, a roof over our heads and plenty to eat.
Plus the older kid is coming home this evening, so we will all be together for Turkey Day. I plan to make the most of it.

Khadaji

11-22-2006, 06:04 AM

My health continues to improve. Recently I was diagnosed with ultra-low Vitamin B12 and the shots that they have given me have really improved my life. I feel better than I have in years. Today I'm on the edge of low-energy. Not as low as it has been, but not as high as it has recently gotten. But today is still better than a month ago.

ASAKMOTSD

11-22-2006, 07:32 AM

I am pretty thankful this year -

- Good job with challenges & rewards
- Good people to associate with on a daily basis
- Good marriage that has managed to last over 20 years
- Great kids
- Decent health

pseudotriton ruber ruber

11-22-2006, 07:37 AM

twickster

11-22-2006, 07:45 AM

God bless you (sic), pseud, it had never occurred to me that it was possible to be a Thanksgiving Grinch. :p

RTA

11-22-2006, 08:04 AM

I am thankful that the Democrats took both houses of Congress, and thankful that the majority of Americans finally seem to be waking up to the notion that Bush is, and was always, unfit for office.

Other than that, what pseudotriton ruber ruber said.

Caricci

11-22-2006, 08:05 AM

I'm thankful for the newfound romance in my marriage. Our relationship is better than it's ever been.

I'm thankful for my son who is healthy and smart and fun.

I'm thankful for whatever brought me to this wonderful college and left me here lo these 9+years.

BobLibDem

11-22-2006, 08:05 AM

* No deaths in the immediate family

* The kids are a great bunch of people and I'm proud of every one of them

* The Republican stranglehold on the federal government has been broken

* Nobody in my family lives south of the Ohio state line

auntie em

11-22-2006, 08:46 AM

I don't get the whole idea of thankfulness, honestly. If you're a card-carrying atheist, as I am, is it even possible to be thankful? To whom?

There are things I'm glad for, things I appreciate, things that I like having, though I really don't know why I need a special day to remember these things. Do we designate a special day for the things that piss us off, bore us, make us roll our eyes? Are the other days of the year "No, Thanks"giving Days?
Well, as a card-carrying agnostic, I gotta tell you, you have a point. My biggest issue with the idea that there is no deity is that NOW I don't know whom to thank for my health, my sweet husband, my three dogs, my happy childhood, my cool job, and my lovely hair. But I feel like if I don't show the proper gratitude, it could all be snatched away.

So the way I see it, that's what Thanksgiving is for. Just in case there is somebody up there to thank. And even if not, it's still nice to get time off work and eat so much that your pants don't fit anymore.

Kalhoun

11-22-2006, 09:06 AM

I don't get the whole idea of thankfulness, honestly. If you're a card-carrying atheist, as I am, is it even possible to be thankful? To whom?

There are things I'm glad for, things I appreciate, things that I like having, though I really don't know why I need a special day to remember these things. Do we designate a special day for the things that piss us off, bore us, make us roll our eyes? Are the other days of the year "No, Thanks"giving Days?
I'm thankful to people...not god. Not everything in my life is 100% my doing, and for those who have given me a leg up, I thank them.

For my relief from the evil that is menopause, I thank Dr. Ghandi and The Patch People (band name!).

For the timely delivery of groceries that will soon be Thanksgiving Dinner, I thank Pea Pod.

Eleanor of Aquitaine

11-22-2006, 09:30 AM

We were vastly entertained during Thanksgiving a few years ago, when we could ask my three-year-old son what he was thankful for and he would reliably answer, in a snippy little voice: "Nothing." The little rat.

I'm thankful for the usual stuff - my husband and children are great, we're all in reasonably good health, and we have enough money to pay our bills and keep me supplied with books.

Sal Ammoniac

11-22-2006, 11:23 AM

I was just reading the other (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=396145) Thanksgiving thread, and rejoicing that I have no relatives like those described. Or if I do, I never, ever see them. So I'm feeling particularly blessed, in an atheistic kind of way, and am actually looking forward to Thanksgiving.

pseudotriton ruber ruber

11-22-2006, 11:43 AM

Okay, I'm thankful I don't have an obstructed bowel.

I'm enormously grateful that my faucet continues to give me water instead of rancid soup.

I'm so appreciative that others have lived before me and have done stupid things like trying to french kiss the electric outlet, so I now know better.

A shoutout to gravity--I'm so disorganized, I'm sure I'd literally never find things if they kept flying off into space all the time.

I'm thankful that orgasms aren't accompanied all the time by raging fevers lasting weeks at a time.

I'm glad that the Boogeyman stays underneath my bed and rarely ventures out to grab my legs when I go to sleep.

That feels so much better now, so thanks for reminding me to list all the things I'm grateful for.

Necros

11-22-2006, 12:02 PM

Last year, the week before Thanksgiving, my brother was severely hurt while working in the Peace Corps. He was flown to a hospital in South Africa, and it was very touch and go there for a while.

I am extremely thankful that, while he will be probably be disabled permanently, he is alive. In fact, he just moved in with my wife and I, and I'm loving having him around all the time.

Kalhoun

11-22-2006, 12:12 PM

Ethilrist

11-22-2006, 12:26 PM

That feels so much better now, so thanks for reminding me to list all the things I'm grateful for.
We're here for ya, pal.

Shirley Ujest

11-22-2006, 12:44 PM

I'm thankful for my healthy, intelligent children. Out there somewhere in this world there is a couple of families that received our real children and We got theirs and I'd like to say, HA HA!

I am thankful that my 11 year old dog is still with us. She's so awesome, but I'll spare you pages of gushingness over her yellowy goodness.

I am thankful for my nearly 5 month old kitty has almost stopped attacking our feet as we walk by. The biting has almost stopped too and the ramps about the bedroom all night long have settled down into sleeping next to the begrudging aging dog.

I am thankful that I was able to find a brain dead job 8 minutes from home ( no stop lights or traffic. Dirt roads all the way, baby) to help supplement the income which needs it more now than ever with the way Michigan's economy is in the crapper.

I am grateful that Dick DeVos did not get into office here. Anything connected with Scamway is BAD. ( Of course, I'm not real happy with Granholm either, but she is slightly less evil than Dick.)

I'm thankful for the health of my family.

Elza B

11-22-2006, 12:47 PM

Sometimes I think we need to do this 'round the calendar year, not just on Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for the best gift I've ever gotten - my three-month-old son, who thinks I'm the funniest person he's ever met. I'm thankful for my husband, who also thinks I'm funny and watches Battlestaar Galactica with me, and I'm thankful for his new job, which seems to be a good opportunity for him. I'm thankful that the birth of my son has turned my father-in-law into a new person, one that I barely recognize. I'm thankful that everyone in my family is still healthy and alive, and that we've had three new babies in the last year to remind us to appreciate each other.

I'm also thankful for snark. Because without snark and reading snark, days like today would pass awfully slowly :D.

E.

twickster

11-22-2006, 01:09 PM

Necros -- Happy Thanksgiving to you and your whole family!

MovieMogul

11-22-2006, 01:23 PM

The same things I'm always thankful for: a beautiful wife, a comfortable life, a job I enjoy, roof over our heads, generally good health, and family that loves us.

xanthous

11-22-2006, 01:28 PM

First of all, a job. Being employed is always good! At this job, I am in a new department working for a manager I respect and like (who respects and likes me also), and with whom I can work well. This time last year I was in a department working for a manager I didn't like, didn't respect (who didn't treat me with one iota of respect), and with whom I could not work well at all. I'm SO thankful for my job!

I'm thankful for the health and happiness of my family and friends.

I'm thankful for my wonderful SO who gives me and does for me probably more than I deserve at times.

I'm thankful for my own health and happiness.

I'm thankful for my dog, Joey, who is my faithful companion.

And I'm hopeful that the world will somehow be better in 2007...

Trans Fat Og

11-22-2006, 01:29 PM

I'm thankful that I'm not a ...

TURKEY!

* * *

Now I'm off to gobble up some food!

* * * * * * * * * * *

True Blue Jack

twickster

11-22-2006, 01:48 PM

What am I thankful for? My boss just sent us home early! Woo hoo!

Necros

11-22-2006, 01:52 PM

Necros -- Happy Thanksgiving to you and your whole family!
Thanks, twickster! Likewise! And, hey, we just got notice about leaving early, too! So, make that two things to be thankful for. ;)

Omegaman

11-22-2006, 02:06 PM

I'm thankfull that I won't live forever :) It's been a mother so far .

MLS

11-22-2006, 02:22 PM

Well, I'm glad that nobody I'm close to has died this year (although we did come rather close during the summer).

Godfrey Daniels

11-22-2006, 03:16 PM

A couple of years ago I found myself resisting a strong urge to give in to bitterness. I felt old and alone, living a mediocre existence.

Tomorrow I can offer gratitude that I met a beautiful woman some time back, who recently became my wife; my work is challenging, if not always fulfilling; and after six years my band is still together, stretching my attempts at being creative to new lengths; I feel great physically; my children are all well and have become successful adults.

We'll have a decent roof over our heads, a turkey in the oven, and a few bucks in the bank. Yeah, I'm thankful.

DJ Motorbike

11-22-2006, 05:51 PM

My health is good.
I have a place to live.
I have a job and am capable of supporting myself.
I eat every day.

I have the basic essentials. Am I thankful? I don't think I fully understand what that means. I only have myself to thank for getting up in the morning and going to work so I can have a place to live and food to eat. I guess I should be thankful that I live in a society that allows such a condition to exist, but don't most if not all societies center around that basic idea (aside from communism, maybe).

My health is good, but that's as much dumb luck as anything, so I don't know why I should be "thankful" over that. I exercise daily and take basic care of myself, so at least, in part I can take some credit there too.

Misnomer

11-22-2006, 05:59 PM

One more: I just finished a poker game in the money for the first time since May. May! I am very, very thankful to the players who contributed to my winnings. :D

annanate

11-22-2006, 06:04 PM

I'm thankful for reading this thread to remind me that everything doesn't truly suck. (Been in a bit of a funk lately with the Holiday's approaching.)

I've got a good job, a roof over my head, and plenty to eat.

Creaky

11-22-2006, 09:36 PM

1.) Good health

2.) Great friends

3.) Interesting (if not overtly loving) family

4.) Cool apartment

5.) Fun job with weird coworkers who like that I'm weird too

6.) Oysters and champagne and pigs-in-the-blanket (best appetizers in the world, kids!)

Zoe

11-23-2006, 12:42 AM

I've unexpectedly reconnected with several old friends from college days (almost forty-five years ago) and have found their companionship as warm and fun as it was then. They feel like comfortable old shoes.

I am grateful for old friends who have shown up again.

fishbicycle

11-23-2006, 01:49 AM

I'm thankful for how great my life is now. It wasn't much fun at all until I came to Florida 8 1/2 years ago and got married.

I'm thankful that I'm having such a good marriage, when so many before me have failed.

Like the poster above, I've also reconnected with a couple of old friends from high school, and I'm thankful that they're still alive and kicking, despite divorces and heart attacks and losing businesses.

I'm thankful that I have a best friend again, who has invited us to dinner with him and what's left of his family tomorrow.

I'm thankful that I love my job, and no longer have to dread going to work or fear losing my job at somebody's whim. This is the last year I will be working without benefits or vacation.

I'm sorry that my dentist has closed down her office before she finished rebuilding my teeth, but I'm extremely thankful that they have neglected to ask us for the grand we owe them.

Penchan

11-23-2006, 02:08 AM

I am thankful that my mom finally sold her restaurant so that she can retire.

I am thankful to be able to spend my first Thanksgiving with my boyfriend of 6 years. It's sad that he only got to stay because he's too sick to travel to his parent's house, but I'm still happy to have him spend the holiday with my family!

I am thankful for my college education and the love and support that I get from my family.

OttoDaFe

11-23-2006, 02:29 AM

On Thanksgiving Eve a year ago I was sitting in a doctor's office with my daughter, waiting for her to be admitted to the hospital across the way. We'd just been told that she had to be admitted for tests because the doctor couldn't do them on an outpatient basis for at least a week, and he didn't think she'd live that long.

Turned out she had Ulcerative Colitis. Between steroids, immunosuppressives, a couple of bouts with respiratory bugs, and finally surgery, she was in hospital for a little over two months, and emerged sans large intestine. She'd missed celebrating Thanksgiving (her Thanksgiving dinner was a particularly repulsive laxative to prepare for a colonoscopy the next day), Christmas, New Years and her sixteenth birthday, and came out with a bag on her stomach and a prescription for methadone (to taper her down from two months on opiates).

But the important thing is that she left the hospital in a wheelchair and not on a cart. Later today I'll be sitting down to dinner with a 16-year-old who is alive, feisty, drug-free, doing exceeding well in an online high school (she was at best an indifferent student before), and has a direction in life (to be a pediatric nurse).

So yeah, I think I'm thankful.

yellowval

11-23-2006, 09:49 AM

I'm thankful for the love of my life who is sleeping upstairs. He's honestly the best thing that's ever happened to me, cliche though it may be.

I'm thankful for my parents. Even my dad. I've realized recently that even though my parents do some stupid things sometimes, they're a hell of a lot better than some other parents I know. They love me and they're nice to me, and I'm happy to have them in my life. My sisters are pretty cool too. And man, do I love those nieces and nephews of mine.

I'm thankful for my in-laws. I don't know how I lucked out on this deal, but as far as in-laws go they're top-notch. I'm looking forward to spending the day with them.

I'm thankful for my cats, who waited outside the bedroom door for me to get up this morning and then bounded down the stairs in front of me with such excitement you'd have thought it was the second coming of Christ.

I'm thankful for my dog who still loved me this morning even though I got mad at him for barking at me when I was mashing sweet potatoes with the electronic masher thingy at 2:30 this morning.

Magiver

11-23-2006, 10:59 AM

Number one, for me -- I got a great new job six months ago. I'm enjoying the hell out of it, and making serious money.

Plus, yanno, my health is good, and I have a few really good friends, and most of my family is doing pretty well, blah blah blah.

How about you? Same. I got laid off in June with a severence package of half a year's salary. My new job (which I love) pays 40% more and I expect that to go up sharply in a couple of years. Even though I was able to bank some of my unemployment I was still stressed out about the situation. Not sure why because I'm single with no financial debt of any kind. Basically I was forced to take a bunch of money to leave and get a better job. Yah, I'm pretty stoked.

In a state that took a huge employment hit I was worried about the future. One of the people representing the company that bought us out actually referred to the people who stayed to the end as losers. Almost everyone in my department was able to find a better job that paid more money. The parent company bit off more than it could chew so the aquisition is a total nightmare.

So to that person who called us losers I say, AHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.

I'd wish him a happy Thanksgiving (today) but he's working.