This Year I Am Grateful for...

If you're celebrating the holiday today, I hope you have a lovely day. If you're having a less than lovely day, I hope you have access to alcohol and/or chocolate. If you're not celebrating today, I hope you have a magnificent Thursday.

Let's face it, it's been a rough year for a lot of people, on both macro and micro levels. But today I am remembering to be grateful for:

• All of you, who have literally changed the course of my life, in ways great and small; whose companionship pulls me through the rougher days; whose comments are always bright spots to look forward to


• All of the writers out there, who bring so much joy, who are often my desired refuge from a stormy world, who inspire me to jump into the conversation and write my own stories


• All of the artists out there, who are basically, as far as I'm concerned, sorcerers who dish out delight


• All of the podficcers out there, who make stories spring to life


• All of the readers out there, whose insightful thoughts always make my stories and me better


• Every character that won't shut up in my head


• Airplanes (even when air travel drives me crazy)


• Internet (SO PRECIOUS WHEN IT WORKS OMG and it brings me all of you!)


• Word processing programs and the QWERTY keyboard


• HGTV


• Remember when Tom Hardy showed up at the Oscars this year? Yeah, that was amazing. Let's all just sit and remember that for a second.


• How about the random recent photograph of Tom Hardy at Whole Foods? Grateful for that as well


• Benedict Cumberbatch in a cape


• Benedict Cumberbatch doing his press with British accent intact


• E-mail


• JGL playing the drums in that commercial


• That other commercial with that guy named Beowulf, just because: guy named Beowulf


• Champagne


• Chocolate


• Ice cream


• Sunglasses


• Spotify


• Cheerfully whistling kettles and cups of tea at the perfect temperature


• Cheese


• Movie theaters that let you reserve seats and serve you alcohol


• Useful public transportation


• Gas fireplaces


• The way my niblings let me cuddle them


• Fresh Portuguese rolls that are still warm when you break into them


• Cloudless blue skies


• Hardy houseplants


• Home, even when it's a website or a phone call instead of a place