List of Thanks

I happen to love snow. I do. I love standing out in it and listening to- you hear that? That's right. Nothing. Just absolute silence: even cars driving by are muted as drivers hesitate to speed faster than fifteen miles an hour. Birds are nestled into their nests; deer have retreated into their stone hovels, but snowflakes, though light on my tongue and cheek and eyes, weigh down hundred-year-old trees, deaden grass; no other color exists for they have blended into one: white.

But my apparent love for all things winter is now muted- I've hesitated to embrace this, another storm; tired of nestling and retreating; I feel more weight than I do light no matter how bright snow insists it is.

I know it isn't easy to have a good mood on days like this, especially when I've already spent all my good moods on previous days; now I feel as though the weather deserves my bitterness. Ha, can something like the weather, however animate it may appear, really deserve my bitterness? It's just snow. The snow may even be a result of my apathetic addition to pollution, but that's an entirely different conversation...

I don't want to be bitter.

But what else can I feel on a day like this?

On the spectrum of emotions, I should say I have a plethora of choices.

Although today, I will try my best to avoid its more negative side. I know I sometimes regret the unfailing optimism of people, sometimes labeling them 'unrealistic', but how is it unrealistic to be thankful?

1. shelter
2. clothes
3. family
4. electricity
5. blankets
6. books
7. television (up for debate)
8. that this day will soon be over, and I can prepare for tomorrow.

I should be thankful that I have all these things, some people don't. I do not suggest that the suffering of others should induce me to blind gratefulness, but it should induce me to give them things to be thankful for. Here I am, enabled to help others. (9) I am in the unique position to help others.

Yes, I am definitely begging for summer weather. I cannot wait for spring dresses and open-toed shoes, and a full day of work! But I'll work with what I have. Too much time is wasted on attitudes that are nearer to heart attacks rather than smiles.