grateful for...

Friends. Like sweet anniemcq, at whose sun-soaked table I took this shot way back in May when she put me up for a night and something about being in that laughter-filled, music-filled, love-filled house made me spill out all my troubles in a big blubbering mass (and yes I mean mass) which she oh so decorously mopped up while administering good solid advice to steer by that's held me all this good long while.

I'm grateful for *so* many friends who have provided moorings while I've been passing through some rough waters. Offering so much wisdom. So much compassion. So many brilliant insights. Thank you, dear friends. How did you all get to be so *smart*?

Family. Whom I never get to see enough and when I do see I want to see more. (A friend asked me about my trip in late August and I said: "Oh you know how it is when you see family -- it's always the best." And she laughed, saying: "No, D. It's not. Most people wouldn't say that.") My family are my favorite people in the world. They're my core. They keep me honest. I want to be like them when I grow up.

Work. I'm lucky to do what I love and in this last year it's taken me thousands of miles and placed me in close proximity to so many of the people I adore. It doesn't get much better than that.

The Margins. Which mean so much. Blogging. Flickring. Twittering. The people that you meet when you're walking down those streets. It's the Internet, I guess, that I'm expressing gratitude for, but it's more than that: it's people reaching out to people. Telling stories. Sharing their lives. Offering wisdom, encouragement, *recipes*, for the love of god. And creating -- making something new -- "See? I made a hat. Where there never was a hat before." [1] -- and throwing it out here to see what sticks.

I've made some dear friends online in this last couple of years, and I never would have guessed something like that would have been possible. It's like the story debaird told me, when he recounted to friends how he met up with p2wy and me for dinner when he passed through Chicago some time back: "Was it weird?" they wanted to know (debaird had only ever met us online); "Only in that it wasn't weird," he told them (although I'm paraphrasing, so db you set me right if I got that wrong).

Sure there are some odd birds online, but I haven't met them yet. Instead I've met you guys, for which this world is a richer and more miraculous place.

So thanks, y'all. I'm grateful for you.
And Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

[1] And thank you Kari, for placing that Sondheim quote (which I'm sure I've mangled) so prominently when you were blogging over at litwit, and reminding me to Make Something New every time I checked in.

(links to follow soon -- posting by cameraphone -- late -- good lord why am I not *asleep*?!)

Update: Linked.