giving thanks

So here I am, in NJ for Thanksgiving, and thinking about all the things I am grateful for in the past year. Oddly, I'm also thinking about Eve Carson. It was her birthday last Wednesday, and I just keep thinking, what are her parents doing? How are they surviving, day to day? What are the holidays like for them this year? How do they wake up every day? It strikes me as incredibly heart-wrenching. This is a young woman who should not have had her life taken from her at such a young age - especially not in the brutal way that she did. I often wonder what she was doing last year, and whether she would have ever thought she wouldn't live to the next Thanksgiving. In my Research Methods class, one group did a project on students' perceptions of safety, and one of my friends mentioned the "Eve Carson effect" on our perceptions of how safe we are in Chapel Hill. Without even having to discuss it, we all knew what she meant by that. And that made me very sad. So much can change in a year, a month, a day, an hour. As Joan Didion wrote in The Year of Magical Thinking, life changes in the instant, the ordinary instant. Which is why I am grateful and thankful for so much this year, especially all the little things. 

I am thankful for: my blood family. my "chosen" family. the health of people I love. friends. mentors. my wonderful baby nephew (who will always be a baby to me, no matter how old he gets!). sunshine. warm sheets and cold pillows. smiles. phone calls from long distance friends. gingerbread lattes on cold days. the warm golden amber of autumn leaves. serendipity. synchronicity. good books. breakfasts with Morgan. faith. hope. courage. the wonderful kids I babysit for and have babysat for - Luke, MJ, Rachel, Bryce, Chase, Harrison, Pilar. gummy toothless smiles and incoherent phone calls from these kids. hugs. kindness. prayer. life. the wonderful summer full of opportunities I had at MSKCC. the amazing people I met at Memorial, including my supervisor. all the bloggers and people I've met through blogspot. 

On a lighter note, everyone should pick up the December issue of Elle magazine. I am in it! I reviewed books for them and my book review got printed! So go out now, and buy it, please. Also, if you want to donate to my Avon Breast Cancer 2-Day Walk, please let me know - in less than a month, I have raised $250, but I need to raise at least $1800 -- my goal is to raise as much as I possibly can, though. 

I wish everyone a very happy and healthy thanksgiving!