Gratitude List

Because There Aren't Enough Lists on the Internet

 Dear Reader,

Thank you, again, for your patience as you awaited this post, which was delayed due to the November madness known as Thanksgiving. Thank you too for your tolerance of a literary blog that has recently looked like anything but a literary blog, due to the November-Decemember madness known as finals. I guess, even at the end of the day, even a writing student is still a student, so thanks for putting up with my craziness. I promise I'll start sounding intellectual and geeky again soon.

As my last full-time semester of undergrad draws to a close, I've begun to realize how easy it's been to focus on the negativity of it all. Hands down this has been the toughest semester of my life -- academically and emotionally. Exceptionally challenging courses + grad school apps + senioritus + sad about graduation + life = one horrendous roller-coaster ride. Thanksgiving break was good for me as a time to wind down and contemplate it all with a calmer mind. In the busy-ness, it's so easy to get lost in the misery of things that I'll miss, things I wish I did better, and things that I've just plain hated. But at the end of the day, Self, look where I am. Even if I completely fell apart, failed every course this semester, and got rejected by every grad school I've applied to, I've still accomplished so much, and lead such a rich life.

So, fully aware of the cliché involved in this move, here's my list of things that I'm grateful for -- this semester and always:

1. Books: because a well-turned phrase is more delicious than a box of chocolates
2. Notebooks: because a scattered mind requires a place to keep scattered thoughts
3. Mornings: because they have possibilities
4. 2 a.m. Writing Sprees: because "even night is not night enough" for the inspired writer (Franz Kafka)
5. Bribed Proofreaders . . . I mean friends: because my writing is close to my heart, and deserves nothing less than to be discussed heart-to-heart with someone I trust
6. Art: because every so often, I need to break from being the artist and to simply appreciate someone else's art
7. Music: because it is the one force that exclaims what even words cannot
8. Silence: because it makes the inner voice so very talkative
9. Deep Conversations: because there is no subject, no drama, no story, without people made vulnerable
10. Love: because, at the end of the day, everything is worth nothing without it

Grace and peace to you.