What are you thankful for?

November 25, 2004 5:48 AM

SappyFilter: What are you thankful for? (MI)

On this day of great food consumption, we often forget what we should be grateful for. So when you get a break from your activities, reflect and post. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

posted by crusiera to human relations (46 comments total)

This is the part where atheists sulk away quietly and start nervously binging on after-dinner mints.
posted by PrinceValium at 6:25 AM on November 25, 2004

Being Canadian.
posted by Quartermass at 6:47 AM on November 25, 2004

MetaFilter
posted by caddis at 6:50 AM on November 25, 2004

Is it a holiday today somewhere?
posted by ascullion at 7:06 AM on November 25, 2004

I'm thankful for my boyfriend and his family. Though they are Australian and have never celebrated Thanksgiving, they did it for me, because they knew I'd be missing it. I was given turkey, THREE pumpkin pies (they'd never tried turning pumpkins into pie before, but they looked up a recipe, and the pies turned out perfectly), and a vase of red, white and blue flowers. Score!
posted by fricative at 7:27 AM on November 25, 2004

After yesterdays experience I'm thankful for life and being alive.

Managed to drive right into that nasty storm touring the midwest, but decided to turn around before we hit the really bad parts of it.
posted by tonelesscereal at 7:35 AM on November 25, 2004

This is the part where atheists sulk away quietly and start nervously binging on after-dinner mints.

What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I've always managed to be thankful without the assistance of the church. God had a seat at the early Thanksgiving table, but his role has been usurped by dressing, football, and news stories about the turkey hotline. Thanksgiving has about as much as religious significance as Christmas does these days (baby jesus my ass - it's about toys, a few days off from work, and Hardrock, Coco, and Joe).
posted by HifiToaster at 7:37 AM on November 25, 2004

Spongebob Squarepants.

On preview, HifiToaster, I think you just proved PrinceValium's point.
posted by swift at 7:42 AM on November 25, 2004

I think PV was joking. But it's true, if I was sitting at a table of more than two people and someone asked us to discuss what we were thankful for, I would be cringing inwardly, waiting for the first reference to Jesus, God, what have you. I wish the evangelicals would buy their own island where they could just jerk each other off for all eternity. When will the rapture finally get here, already?

Anyway, I'm an agnostic Jew, and I'm thankful for every day I get out of bed with a functional nervous system, every night I get to see my kids off to bed.
posted by docpops at 7:46 AM on November 25, 2004

OK, I'm also thankful for coffee. Who else is drinking caffeine right now?
posted by docpops at 7:47 AM on November 25, 2004

Ahhh, coffee. That'd be high on my list. I'm always thankful that my life is comfortable enough that I can take things for granted. And I try to remind myself to step back and understand how incredibly lucky I really am. I have a wife that I adore, good health, a job that pays my bills and leaves me some extra cash to eat out and buy a few things I don't actually need but really enjoy, and I have friends and family that I can always on count on. Oh, and I have those Simpsons DVDs. Very thankful for those.
posted by HifiToaster at 7:57 AM on November 25, 2004

In 1985 I fell off a 3 story building backwards and landed on my back, on the trunk of a Honda accord,owned by Dr. Bush. The shocks, springs and sheet metal totally absorbed the fall.
I didn't even hit my head. I just got up and didn't even let go of my camera.
posted by JohnR at 8:01 AM on November 25, 2004

Especially since I've been talking to some of my foreign classmates in the last few days about their lives in Ukraine, Iran, etc.... I'm really thankful for Canada. I'm thankful that I don't have to report my vote to a religious or school official. I'm thankful that I don't have to live in fear of my fellow citizens, or, when it comes down to it, pretty much anybody. I'm thankful that I can say I'm an atheist and no one really cares that much, let alone hates me for it.

I've been Canadian all my life and love it for my own reasons, but it's my fine foreign friends who have been teaching me how to REALLY appreciate it.
posted by heatherann at 8:06 AM on November 25, 2004

I'm thankful that the drug-related accident that really should have killed me in 2000 didn't, and that I've found someone really sweet who likes to dance in the kitchen with me, a man who pets every animal he sees. I'm thankful I got smart and moved to Vermont.
posted by jessamyn at 8:12 AM on November 25, 2004 [1 favorite has favorites]

I'm thankful that things aren't even worse than they are.
posted by rushmc at 8:17 AM on November 25, 2004

Although I live in a city that shields me from the fanatical non literal masses, living in the USA is a lot of fun.
posted by orange clock at 8:21 AM on November 25, 2004

Was hospitalized this June, and am acutely aware of how fragile life is. So, I'm simply grateful for being alive.

if I was sitting at a table of more than two people and someone asked us to discuss what we were thankful for, I would be cringing inwardly, waiting for the first reference to Jesus, God, what have you.
Wow, even though my family and friends often discuss what we are thankful for over Thanksgiving dinner, there has never ever been a single reference to "Jesus, God, what have you." I'm just beginning to realize how far removed we are from mainstream usa. I'm thankful for that too.
posted by ruelle at 8:27 AM on November 25, 2004

For the dogs hitched to parking meters here in Park Slope; Metafilter; the successful launch of my business; and that Mr. Kerry lost the election. Also, that Dan Rather is being punished. And LittleGreenFootballs.com
posted by ParisParamus at 8:30 AM on November 25, 2004

I am thankful for my parents, as flawed as they are, and my husband, for putting up with this grad school thing, among all the other wonderful things he does for me. I am also thankful that I was born into a huge family, thereby forcing me to grow up loud, outspoken and often obnoxious. Every day I see people who don't feel like they have options, who don't feel like they can 'get out' of where ever or whatever they are in, they cannot speak out for fear of something or someone. I have been so lucky that I have rarely felt that way.
Also, I am thankful for my cat Melon, and AskMetaFilter for helping me when I found him as a stray.
posted by oflinkey at 8:49 AM on November 25, 2004

Among other things, I am very thankful that my lover is not a fan of sports TV. He stressed that fact yesterday when he suggested a topic for my blog today: We should all turn off the football games (because the players are such thugs) and give our support and attention to the televised dog show instead.

And I am also thankful that jessamyn did not die in the drug incident of 2000.

And boy am I thankful that spell check is working again, even if it did suggest "bog" for "blog."
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 9:09 AM on November 25, 2004

family, love, good friends, health, being safe and alive thanks to the sacrifices of others...

... and the red sox.
posted by jerseygirl at 9:18 AM on November 25, 2004

All of you. Seriously.
posted by LarryC at 9:46 AM on November 25, 2004

The spell checker works again? Praise be to God.
posted by caddis at 10:01 AM on November 25, 2004

... and thank you Matt.
posted by caddis at 10:02 AM on November 25, 2004

pauli's tolerance.
being born in a rich enough society to never be in real material need.
coffee is good, too. and wine, fresh bread, strawberry jam, yogurt.
and living in age where there are computers to program. what on earth would i have done otherwise?
posted by andrew cooke at 10:06 AM on November 25, 2004

Thankful for the comparative comfort, safety, and opportunities that are mine all because I happen to live where I do. There are so many ways things could be unimaginably worse.

Thankful for my lover, who is pretty much the centre of my universe. I can not imagine a better relationship, and am ever-grateful that I am so lucky as to have this relationship.

Thankful for life in general. I don't think there's an prelife, afterlife, or alternatelife. We get one shot at this gig, and it's an honour to be here. Wish I was doing more with this opportunity, but, hey, I'm lazy.

Thankful for MeFi, too. Good community we got going here!
posted by five fresh fish at 10:15 AM on November 25, 2004 [1 favorite has favorites]

i'm thankful for the new user signups, tea, health, and my ever-loving boyfriend.

(i've never heard a reference to god at the thanksgiving table, either. last year, i said i was thankful for every day that brought us closer to having a new president, and my dad he was thankful for every day that we spend under the strong stewardship of w., and the conversation distintegrated into little squabbles after that. oops.)
posted by equipoise at 10:18 AM on November 25, 2004

As I write this my roommates are cooking a huge Thanksgiving dinner in the kitchen, which I can already smell, and my boyfriend is setting up a trainset that my dad gave us to run around the ledge in the dining room. I am sitting in my lovely apartment. I am surrounded by books for courses at my lovely school - courses which I am really enjoying for once. I am posting on Metafilter.

Life is amazing. I am thankful for all of it.
posted by mai at 10:44 AM on November 25, 2004

I'm thankful for those little rectangle things that pop when you've gone too high.
posted by mervin_shnegwood at 10:53 AM on November 25, 2004

my cats, Nuala and Miep. everything else is just mashed potatoes.

and for mervin's comment that's got me completely baffled
posted by poopy at 11:24 AM on November 25, 2004

I'm thankful that my grandma, who despite all that life threw at her (internment, losing her husband at a young age) worked hard to raise and support her only son as well as her only grandson(me), won her battle with cancer.
posted by trillion at 11:44 AM on November 25, 2004

What everyone else said. And my kids. And Blueberry POM Wonderful. Coffee and a newspaper. Having just enough, but not too much money. Lunchtime. Good red wine. I could go on, but I think the name speaks for itself ;-)
posted by grateful at 12:33 PM on November 25, 2004

er... say, Thanksgiving was a month ago.
posted by five fresh fish at 12:35 PM on November 25, 2004

I'm thankful for my best friend, parts of my family and beer. (to help put up with the parts of my family I'm not thankful for)
posted by kamylyon at 12:40 PM on November 25, 2004

I'm thankful for my girlfriend, patient and forgiving and surprisingly understanding. I'm thankful for the written word in all forms. I'm thankful for the two crufty old computers on my desk, and the broadband connected to them. I'm thankful for music by artists who 'get it', and actually actively encourage me and pester me to download their latest stuff on SLSK even though I'm a starving artist myself and I can't afford to pay them for it. I'm thankful for coffee, beer, vodka and other psychoactive consumables; And I'm thankful for a CNS and consciousness upon which to play with them. I'm thankful for vision and hearing; light and sound. I'm thankful for all my experiences, both positive and negative.

And at the end of it all I'm thankful for darkness, so that I may sleep and dream.
posted by loquacious at 1:38 PM on November 25, 2004

College. Metafilter. Not having to cook tonight. Johnny Depp's general existence.

And pretty much everything else.
posted by hopeless romantique at 1:57 PM on November 25, 2004

I'm thankful for this one day of the year when I don't feel guilty about excess.
posted by Dick Paris at 2:18 PM on November 25, 2004

I'm thankful for those who try to inspire, for those who try to change minds, and those who love freely. I am thankful for Mefi, which inspires me in some new way every day. Happy Thanksgiving and eat well.
posted by crusiera at 2:54 PM on November 25, 2004

I'd like to thank writing. Without it I wouldn't be typing this, I wouldn't have had so many cool jobs, written and received love letters that made me smile, read so many good books or learnt so many interesting things. Or met so many nice and interesting people.

Although sometimes you make me look a fool when I do the "Your"/"You're" or the "It's"/"Its" thing I'm cool with it, I understand that's what you have to do to assert your power over me.

And I'm also thankful for Preview and Spell Check buttons.

Thank you.
posted by Navek Rednam at 3:19 PM on November 25, 2004

I am thankful for Annie's mac and cheese with portabella mushrooms and hothouse tomatoes. I am thankful for a husband who cooks this as our thanksgiving dinner, after walking around our deserted city with me taking pictures in the fog. (Are self-links ok on the green?)

I am thankful for the relative health, happiness and prosperity enjoyed by myself and the people I love.

I am thankful for delicious, cheap red wine from South America, and cheese that tastes like sage.

I am thankful that it wasn't cancer.

I am thankful that my best friend's parents flew on September 10.

I am thankful for a job that keeps me young and gives me lots of free time to think about life and pursue creative projects.

And I'm thankful that I realize these things are worth appreciating.
posted by damn yankee at 3:26 PM on November 25, 2004

I'm thankful the car that knocked me off my motorcycle last week only broke my foot and not my neck.

I'm thankful that the boredom and mild sadness of spending most of the next month sitting on my butt healing will pass.

I'm thankful to be alive.
posted by clubfoote at 3:36 PM on November 25, 2004

I'm thankful for my husband and son. They are worth more to me than all the rest combined.

I'm thankful my nether-region Narolethotep was benign. I'm thankful that sex is on the menu again.

I'm thankful for Irontom and his family for all they have meant to us over the years. Dinners, wine, kids, pets, laughs and love that are rare in life.

I'm thankful for our animals, even the rock-eating wonder pup.
posted by onhazier at 4:18 PM on November 25, 2004

I am thankful that fricative is my girlfriend. Such a wonderful, supportive, loving, disgustingly funny woman the world has never seen.
posted by mikeybidness at 6:28 PM on November 25, 2004

I'm thankful for my family and friends (esp. the one who got me into MeFi). I'm glad that such otherwise intelligent people can't seem to figure out that I'm a hopeless screw-up. I'll also second the wealthy (by world standards) first-world upbringing thanks as well as (more importantly) knowledge, not the kind your teachers give you, the kind you get by getting lost in a library for hours (this too, I received from my parents). I'm thankful for the opportunity to see the other side of the world and get paid for it. (Korea's great, warts and all).

PV, as for religion; I'm thankful for a God who makes me aware enough of my own failings that I don't see the need to condemn others. (Which seems to be the only sort of religion that my fellow Mefites have a chance to encounter).
posted by Octaviuz at 11:59 PM on November 25, 2004

Two years no cancer
Amazing daughters
Much younger boyfriend
The internets
... and I have to agree with hopeless romantique: John Depp.
posted by thinkpiece at 5:51 AM on November 26, 2004

Thankful that signups opened again.

And that people put up with me, even though I'm late all the time. Like right now.
posted by Alt F4 at 11:27 AM on November 26, 2004