Thankfulness

Cyn from Reboot: A New Life in Italy tagged me for this Thanksgiving list. It is surprisingly difficult to narrow things down to two ten item lists.

10 Superficial Things I Am Thankful For:

Television. Movies. Music. Art. Literature. Dance. (all that counts as ONE thing. My rules)

Chocolate. My body requires chocolate for survival.

Crushes. I like looking at beautiful people (men AND women). I get crushes. It has nothing to do with sex or even wanting a relationship with that person. I get celebrity crushes all the time, even though I am 36 years old. It is fun. It keeps me young. And I hope I still get them when I am 96.

Air conditioning. I can live without it, but I really don’t want to.

Typing. The fact that I can type. Fast. Really fast. And not hunt and peck typing either.

The internet. It connects us all. It causes drama. It is a great resource for information and disinformation.

I am a really, really good procrastinator. I am also handy at wasting time, which is pretty much the same thing.

Being a night owl. It is actually a really inconvenient attribute, but I love it nonetheless.

Christmas lights. Love them year round. Can’t get enough of them.

Cosmopolitan magazine. It is vain, it is shallow, it is stupid. But it is so fun to read.

10 Things I am Truly Thankful For:

Diversity. That there are so many different people in the world, of different cultures, different personalities, different everything. Everyone has a story, and every story is interesting.

Beauty. In everything, everywhere. In the sky, in the sea, in the mountains, in animals, in flowers, in people.

Life in Greece. Well, I was a regular old homebody in America. I hardly ever traveled anywhere, and when I did, it wasn’t far. There isn’t one person who knew me (including me) that expected I would ever move to a foreign country. Greece is beautiful, it has opened my mind, and now I can be a homebody in Greece instead of America.

My education. I was lucky to have the opportunity to attend top level schools in grade school and high school, with teachers who dedicated their lives to making education interesting and informative for us. The professors I had in college were intelligent, interesting, and supportive.

My cats. They’ve kept me warm when I was cold, kept me company when I was lonely, and gave me a reason to get up everyday when I was down.

My friends. I have a small circle of very close friends who are the most interesting, wonderful people I have ever known.

My parents. They’ve been supportive of me always, they bore the news of my marrying a Greek man and moving to Greece with aplomb (except for asking if they have to give my in-laws a goat or something as a dowry), they love me unconditionally (and believe me, I was a pain in the ass), and they send me care packages.

My brothers. They are both so much older than I am, it was hard to get to know them. But they’ve become friends and been so supportive of me in my adult life (as opposed to my childhood, when they always teased me and picked on me!). They both married wonderful women who I love and one of them even provided me with a smart and sassy niece.

My in-laws. What can I say? I couldn’t have dreamed of having better in-laws. Smart, educated, funny, caring. They immediately accepted me as one of the family even though I’m a crazy American. They’ve become my friends and my family, and made the transition to life in Greece so much easier.

My husband. Who would have thought I could find the most wonderful man in the world? Someone who accepts me for who I am, the good AND the bad. Someone who calls me out on my bullshit. Someone who loves me unconditionally and without pause, and someone I love more than I ever thought myself capable of loving.

I won't tag anyone else, since Thanksgiving is almost here. But if you feel like making your own list, have at it.