We start off this Thanksgiving-themed week with a simple question: Who are you thankful for this year? Why?
Are you planning to tell them? Why or why not?
Related questions: How do you show thanks? What is your favorite Thanksgiving tradition? What does it mean to be thankful? Who is your MVP for the year?
I love the idea of Thanksgiving, and I will be giving thanks to as many of the people on this list as I can. I am thankful for:
– Rebecca, my spouse, for loving me and making our home life so comfortable and fun; for being a disciplined partner in our making and maintaining of our household; for helping Luca become a more confident and less anxious pup; for being the primary planner for our incredible trip to Greece and assisting me in my planning for Copenhagen; for offering up extra love and, at times, tough love during some of my mental health lows; for not accepting it when my insurance company tried to switch up my mental health meds; and, again, for loving me and making our home life so comfortable and fun;
– my friends, Lee and Peter, for our regular check-ins; for digging deep into our personal lives; for not being afraid to talk religion, politics, and philosophy with me; and for putting up with my obsession with climate change;
– our neighbor Iris, who walks Luca two to three times per week when he must stay home during the day;
– our friends, Don and Tyler, not only for being great friends but in swapping doggie care when either of our households is traveling — I know both Luca and Ike are thankful;
– colleagues at HOME Line and Homes for All, who made my transition back to affordable housing and tenant protection issues and advocacy so much easier than it could have been after being away for three years;
– the legislators who sponsored and/or assisted HOME Line’s proposals to make Minnesota a more tenant-friendly state (a special thanks to Rep. Alice Hausman for her guidance and passion);
– for this year’s interns — Miguel, William, Andra, and Elle — for their hard work and for bringing their creativity and sticktoitiveness to HOME Line’s campaigns;
– the hoteliers in Greece for being so helpful and personable during our trip to your great country;
– Vibeke and Jan, my Airbnb hosts in Copenhagen, for great conversations over breakfasts and two dinners and by the end of the week becoming my friends;
– George and Gry, for helping me get to know Copenhagen in a more thoughtful way and for ushering me around to different sights that I would never have encountered;
– Cecily and Brenna for maintaining and contributing to our Facebook group, Real Food Possibilities — we can build a more resilient real food future;
– Lee, again, for maintaining and building this blog and allowing me along for the ride; and
– all the commenters to this blog and my mental health blog, Prone to Hope; and,
– to all my friends and colleagues for helping me live a richer life.