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Happy Thanksgiving! I hope yours was as good as mine.

Thanksgiving was a little more stressful than usual this year. It has been a tradition in the past for my family to celebrate the holidays at my paternal grandparents' house. However, last spring they moved to Springbrook Apartments so they wouldn't have to worry about yard work, utility bills, and the like anymore. As a result, our Thanksgiving was held at our house this year. This meant that we had to get the house into something that resembled presentable before the guests arrived. It was close, but we managed to do it. Then, the actual Thanksgiving meal and subsequent activities were fun as always. The Packers even managed to beat the Lions, which made my day.

As we closed in on today, my thoughts were of course more focused on what I have to be thankful for. I really take a lot for granted most of the time. Food, water, clothing, and shelter are all basic things that I have always had enough of, but there are millions of people in the world whose basic needs aren't fulfilled on a daily basis. We shouldn't take anything for granted, but we're spoiled. As much as there is to dislike about the USA (I'm not the most patriotic person you'll ever meet), it really is a great place to live.

I am thankful for my family. Not everyone has the luxury of a complete and functional family. My grandparents are getting older all the time, but I'll enjoy the time I have left with them now and I'll see them again someday. It has recently been discovered that my uncle has a malignant tumor in his esophagus, and we're honestly not sure if he's going to live through it. But we're all praying for him and we're going to do everything we can to help him live the best life he can for as long as he can, which will hopefully not be any shorter than the rest of us. And if things don't work out the way we want them to, I'm pretty sure I'll see him again someday too.

I'm thankful for my friends. My fears became reality for many of my friends from high school. Who knows when I'll ever see them again. But I have kept in touch with my two closest friends, and that's good enough for me. As one might expect, I was nervous about the idea of being in a long distance relationship before college started. However, Bethany and I still talk nearly every night and are doing very well. I'm very grateful for that, because I've known other people who have had long distance relationships end messily. I'm also thankful for the numerous new friends I've made at RIT. I was worried at first about how things would work out, but I haven't had trouble making friends at all. I have more friends in college than I did in high school, and I'm enjoying it. I'm especially enjoying the quad, my roommates, and the "band" (quotes necessary) that Karl, Zack, and I have started.

I'm thankful for my grades. I never had to worry about grades in high school. That was something that was automatic, never below 95. College has turned out to be a different story though. In one class this past quarter, I underestimated the difficulty of the material, didn't start reading my book until it was too late, and before I knew it, I was stuck with a B. It could have been much worse though. I was right on the border between A and B in two other classes, and only through prayer and more studying than I had done in the entire previous school year was I able to earn As in both. I am very thankful to have my 3.78 GPA right now. It means a lot more now that I have to work for it and now that I have a required minimum of 3.60 to stay in the honors program.

Finally, I'm thankful for life. As I mentioned earlier, my uncle has throat cancer. Someone I knew in high school died recently in a car crash. I've known other people who have been taken seemingly before their time as well. It really gives me a new perspective. I've never been one to be overly proud of myself or my accomplishments. I always feel like I could do better or improve in some way, and I always dream of a future in which I've reached the point at which I can be truly happy about myself. I now realize that anything can happen at any given moment. I may not have that future or any future. It's unfortunate and depressing to think about, but the possibility exists. I'm thankful to be alive right now, and as I look back on my life so far, I think I could be satisfied with what I've done. I haven't accomplished all of my goals, and I still have dreams about the "perfect" job, house, family, and life that I want to be living some day. I don't have those things right now, but I'm on the right path. That's definitely something to be thankful for.