Every year on Turkey Day, as per family tradition, I make a list of things for which I am thankful. This has been a good year for me. Not going to lie. So here goes: Im very lucky to belong to a tenacious, smart, and ridiculously good-looking family. Im thankful for my mother, brother, and sister, who have taught me how to be resilient, tolerated my foolishness with unconditional love and patience, and never allowed anything to get in the way of a good laugh. Im thankful for my brothers wife and my sisters husband, and Im thankful for my three baby nieces, who have brought more joy and humor into my life than I ever imagined possible. I am thankful for each and every one of my friends. You know who you are. Im fortunate to share connections with so many incredible, accomplished, and charitable people, from all over the world and from all walks of life. If I were ever able to take a group photo with my best friends, itd look like a United Colors of Benetton ad, and thats pretty damn cool to me. My friends have made me more understanding, more tolerant, and more empathetic, and during the last year in particular, as Ive asserted myself more publicly, my friends have been a constant source of support. On more than a few occasions this year, Ive walked into a firestorm, and my friends have been willing to brave those fires right with me. I am thankful that both of my grandfathers are still in good health, and I am thankful to belong to an extended family of dozens of aunts, uncles, great aunts, and great uncles and more cousins than I can count. They enrich my life; they challenge me, and on any given day, at least one of them makes me proud to call them family. Finally, Im thankful to live in the United States, because as much as I complain sometimes, I know how fortunate I am to have been born in a country that allows a kid born with a disability to access top-notch medical care, a free education, and to have the opportunity to live independently and attend two of the best colleges in the world. And no, I dont think any of this is hokey or sentimental, because if you dont know what you should be thankful for, you probably wont ever be able to help fix the things that are broken.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Nov 2014 07:00:17 +0000
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