the obligatory thankful post

I have a lot to be thankful for right now, but I'll try to make it interesting because I know everybody and their mother talks about what they're thankful for this time of year. I'm thankful for things like food and television, too, but these are what really make my heart feel full.

I'm thankful...for those moments when you're in the passenger seat of your friend's car flying down the highway after the last football game of the season and you're blasting Taylor Swift and singing along like your life depends on it, and those moments when you're laughing so hard at stupid cat videos that tears stream down your face and just when you're about to stop laughing someone else's laugh makes you laugh even harder, and all of those other moments when you're just so happy that you can't help but think, this is how it's supposed to be.

I'm thankful...for my family, for providing me with a home (parents), singing along to Taylor Swift with me (sister #1), and eating all my chocolate from my Halloween candy (sister #2) so that I didn't go into a sugar coma (awww how thoughtful) (sarcasm). I'm thankful for my extended family, too, for my grandparents and aunts and uncles and especially my cousins who I'll get to see at Christmas again.

I'm thankful...for all my friends: Mayrose for driving me around and responding to my silly texts with equivocal amounts of enthusiasm, Caitlin for being on the same pop culture wavelength as me and for kicking me in the shins when certain people walk by, Elizabeth for telling me to join cross country and for being my twin except not, Claudia for always being entertaining company and for getting me saying things like "YOLO", Deborah for exchanging critical faces when Claudia says something questionable, Sydney for being so Sydney-like, Sarah for laughing at like everything I say so I feel like a comedic genius, Erina for being there to make fun of people with, Luxy for being the funniest 11-year-old I know, Madisen for being my Stats buddy and always asking me for Goldfish, and my online friends for constantly inspiring me and encouraging me.

And I'm thankful for everybody else who's probably never going to read this. All the people who've made me smile or laugh lately, all the people whose company I've enjoyed whether at school or youth group or cross country, all the people I used to be close with, all the people I've grown closer to. I'm so thankful that all of you exist.

I'm thankful...for the ability to express myself in writing. Writing is kind of like exercising: I don't do it because I really want to, but because I feel so much better afterward, because it clears my mind and keeps me sane and healthy. (...We'll discuss NaNo later.)

I'm thankful...for music, and I legitimately mean all types of music: alternative and (indie) rock when I'm traveling, classical music for when I'm working, country music for when I'm feeling nostalgic, pop music for when the radio's on and I want to sing, hip hop/rap for when I feel like it, gosh. (I've pretty much exclusively been listening to Kanye West for the past few days so that's a thing.)

I'm thankful...that I live in the ATX aka the coolest city I know and home to some of the coolest people I know (that means me).

I'm thankful...that I have both wonderful memories to look back on and wonderful plans to look forward to.

And last but not least, I'm thankful...that CHRISTMAS IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER. I mean, yeah, I'm pretty sure I've seen at least one person in a Christmas sweater every day since November started, and we've been listening to Christmas music in Painting for a few weeks, too, but now I can enjoy all that, and more, guilt-free! Huzzah!