tackling a dreaded assignment

remember back when you were in elementary school and right before the four-day weekend your teacher always gave you the dreaded “what i am thankful for” assignment?

i used to sit there and struggle with what to write. i mean, sure, there were the usual things: family, friends, house, pets, food- but even at a young age, i wanted to be different. i mean, everyone listed at least three of the big five, even if in second grade the list sometimes wound up looking more like “famlee, fiends, hose, pets*, fud”.

well, everyone except for the kid in the corner who was more thankful for his collection of he-man action figures and baseball cards. while such answers were considered selfish, cold, and unfeeling at the time, perhaps maybe that kid understood that the other answers were all too obvious. i mean, aren’t you glad to have each of the big five on pretty much a daily basis, anyway?

with that in mind, here’s the list i wish i’d had the guts to write when i was little:

1. i am thankful that my parents are both addicted to books....and that we have enough bookshelves and other random horizontal surfaces to hold them all.

2. i am thankful that sometimes other people laugh at my jokes....even if it’s only daddy, and he’s just laughing because he was thinking the same thing.

3. i am thankful that my parents believe that spending time with us is more important than spending money on us.

4. i am thankful that my parents like to take my sister and i on road trips, even if it’s just the 30 minute drive to baltimore. (we lived in a suburb at the time.)

5. i am thankful that there’s a really good sledding hill within walking distance of our house, and that daddy lets us sled until we have to practically crawl up the hill for “one last time- really”.

as for my current list?

1. i am thankful that my parents passed their book addiction onto me....even if i don’t really have enough space for all the books i buy.

1a. i am thankful i have a boyfriend who loves me enough to not only let me pile my books everywhere, but also takes hints and buys me new ones when i’m out of things to read.

2. i am thankful for my sparkling wit and personality. i can usually find a way to make someone at least crack a smile, and people find me interesting enough to frequent my blogs and read my ramblings. (though according to statcounter, most of them wound up here because they thought i’d have pictures of female celebrity feet.)

3. i am thankful that my jobs are both fun and flexible....and though i may not be rich, the bills are paid and i’m able to travel as much as i do.

4. i am thankful that my parents passed the travel bug along to me. the world’s a mighty big place, and i’d like to see as much of it as possible.

5. i am thankful that i still haven’t been forced to grow up. next time it snows, you can bet i’ll be out looking for a good hill........

*let’s face it- it’s hard to screw up “pets”, though some seven year olds might have issues spelling names right. i mean, even at a much older age, i had issues deciding whether my hamster, fuzzybutt, needed a hyphen in the middle of his name or not.