Thanksgiving in December

I woke up this morning in a foul mood. How dare morning come before I was ready? Do the neighborhood dogs ever stop barking? What had possessed me to leave dishes in the sink last night? How did I let myself run out of coconut milk coffee creamer? Why do showers have to be so wet? And why, why do so many letters of the alphabet rhyme?
You know that bleary scowl so many of us have upon cracking our eyelids? Yeah, mine never left my face.
happiness
Something like this.
After my fiancé scurried off to work and my cats abandoned me to my glaring glory, I ordered myself to stop being such an epic grump. Then, much to my chagrin, what vision should dance like a sugarplum in my head? Of all things, a Facebook meme, background all peaceful, words in a soothing font, saying something about when you’re feeling like the Grinch Who Stole Sunshiny Happiness, make a list of all the things for which you’re grateful.
So I did. A few hours later, I’m back to my smiling self, so perhaps Facebook’s boundless wisdom has struck again. Although I know we’re much closer to Hanukkah, Solstice, Christmas, and Kwanzaa than Thanksgiving, below is the list I compiled detailing the things, some authorly and some not, for which I am profoundly thankful.
What are some things for which you’re grateful? And happy holidays!
  1. Ella Fitzgerald, who croons to me while my fingers tap across the keyboard.
  2. Lentils.
  3. Since I was just a wee lass, my bucket list has included publishing a novel. Item crossed off. Times 3 3/4! Woot!
  4. First World, middle-class basics: Clean drinking water, indoor plumbing, washing machines, higher education, central air. I just bought my first house and have finally experienced the joys of garages. Not to rub it in to those who are tragically garage-less, but they rock, folks. They freakin’ rock.
  5. Free Android apps. I’m convinced my Scrabble™-esque app is at least partially to blame for my continued decent-to-sparkling spelling skills.
  6. When one of my cats lies down between the keyboard and the computer monitor rather than sitting there, ostentatiously grooming herself while I try to peer around her.
  7. People who take the time to review books on Amazon. There’s a special place in heaven for those folks.
  8. That squirting, spraying nozzle thingy near the faucet on the sink.
  9. I am not one of the nearly 800 million global citizens who is illiterate. Reading books is my refuge; writing them is my greatest passion.
  10. This exercise in gratitude sparked an idea for a blog post.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Public Peeing: A Case for Gender Desegregation

Image
I just wrote a scene about a topic near and dear all our hearts: public bathrooms. Below is an excerpt from my book. “Yeah, so how come girls and boys have different bathrooms?” … Josh thought for a time. “I don’t know for sure,” she said. “But I read about it in the Twelve’s* books. I think they did it and we inherited it from them. You know we live in buildings they built and use sewer systems they fashioned.” Garyn shook her head. “Well, we do. We owe our infrastructure to the Twelves. They were great builders and developers. Not so great at taking care of each other, but you know that…I guess they thought women and men should pee separately.” “Why?” Garyn persisted. “We don’t eat in separate places.” … “I don’t know, Garyn,” she said finally. “…I do know the Twelves thought a lot about sex. I think they were worried they wouldn’t be able to control themselves if they knew the person right next to them was only half-clothed.” Lynna snorted. “What about onesex or...
Read more

The Fat Twin Phenomenon

Image
My identical tw-- uh, best friend (left) and me Did you know I have a twin? I do. Lots of them, in fact. Or, if not a twin, at least a sister. Millions. My poor mom. Picture this: Two women sit next to one another on a shuttle to a hotel in Chicago. The shuttle driver grins at them in the mirror and asks, “Are you two twins?” They get the same question a few days later. A few years later, while one of them visits the other’s workplace, several people approach the smiling duo and ask if they’re sisters. They’re not twins. They’re not even sisters. In fact, they are separated by years (nine), hair (one has long, straight, blonde hair, while the other’s is curly and brown), height (the blonde is two or three inches taller), and body shapes (the blonde is more hourglass). Their eye colors and face shapes are completely different, and no one would ever confuse their voices over the phone. However, they have three things in common that automatically, and apparently, render t...
Read more

Soul Mate Blog Hop

Image
Mystery! Fun! Excitement! Prizes! Exclamation points! All this and more await you in this blog post, which links to several other amazing blog posts in the Soul Mate Super-Duper Fun Blog Hop, which stretches from Monday, February 24 to Friday, February 28. Okay, this post may not contain tons of mystery and romance, but it leads to several authors whose books do. And it does feature opportunities to win some cool prizes, such as a copy of my latest published book, Hunted Dreams , and a Kindle PaperWhite. Details are below. First, though, please allow me to introduce myself. So, hi. I’m Elle Hill. I’m a Sociology Instructor by day and a writer and social activist the rest of the time. I pen paranormal romance that delves pretty heavily into psychology and sociology. But hey, I don’t just pay attention to those human elements. I’m a big fan of animalkind and love featuring them in my works. Only The Tithe , my latest and as yet unpublished book, does not include animal sideki...
Read more