Thanksgiving happened this past weekend. I, er, dunno if you noticed, but it happened.

In my continued campaign for good ideas—something I’ve been up and down with—I had the brilliant idea to write a post about what I’m thankful for. And in my continued campaign to be untimely, I was right on pace.

The genius did not come to me until this past Friday, while watching some football with the family. I had spent Thursday celebrating with friends, but drove late at night to spend time with my mother, grandparents and cousin during the weekend.

I had thought about it some before the whole event, but on Sunday I proceeded to sit and think about it more deeply. Here are some of those thoughts.

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I am grateful

For the way the cat sits on my lap
For the smell of bread in the oven
For the contact staves rolling down my arm
For the blue skies in winter
And the gray ones in the summer.

For the music
And the ingredients that make it
For the small notes that draw out the big ones
And the short songs that live on the longest.

For every good book keeping me attached
To words and thoughts and ideas
For this blog pushing me to write my own
For every editor who has ever said yes
And for those who have said no.

For the friends and family who know my story
And the new friends willing to witness it
For my contact staves teaching me that every drop
Is just a pause.

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Alright, I think that’s quite enough, otherwise I’m just going to break an arm over here. It might be a little weird that this is all happening after the fact, but the calendar should not entirely dictate any sense of equanimity and gratitude; it’s just there as a reminder. The holiday season is upon us, the world of marketeers and department stores managers can thrust headlong into Christmastime and its weird bipolar dichotomy of puritanical sanctity and commercial livery.

I dunno, I’m just glad it’s December. I like this month, all things considered. But that’s another ramble for another time. For now, thank you for reading the Casual Ramble. I’ll have some more updates later this week about the future of the project.

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