Counting Your Blessings in Negative Integers and Other Complex Math.

(Originally posted Nov. 26, 2010)

As I am writing this, the Thanksgiving holiday is slowly settling down. (No, I don’t always write these blogs in advance. Quit riding me.) Of course, Thanksgiving has brought the usual festivities, good food, lively conversation, feeling no guilt over that extra can of root beer for the sake of the holiday… and the opportunity to count your blessings.

Of course, I am thankful for the modest success of this site, the big success of Zombie Opera, my brother’s recent marriage, my other sister’s engagement and my new iPod. But lately, my mind keeps coming back to the various things that have not happened…and how thankful I am to have missed them.

I am thankful that Silky, the Rishel Family cat, did not die when she became near-terminally ill last October. I am thankful that my brother and my friends who are moving have not had any accidents while hauling their heavy stuff clear across creation. I am thankful that no one got terribly sick during the run of Liz’s show, even though everyone was working themselves to exhaustion and illness seemed likely. I am thankful that the city has not yet canceled the buses I take to work. And I am thankful that I do not have all of the same problems that I see others soldiering through. Sure, I’ve got some troubles, but I certainly wouldn’t trade them.

If you have not done so already, please take some time to count your blessings in positives and negatives. Because if nothing new comes to mind…well, that’s something to be thankful for too, isn’t it?

-Marj