I am grateful for

I pride myself on being unique and not following the pack, but in this case I will happily be a follower. I am now going to make a typical Thanksgiving "I am grateful for" list because I am all for being more grateful, even if it's only because everyone else is doing it.

I am grateful for my husband, who makes up for the rational gap in my brain, who reminds me that even graduate students can be silly, and who frustrates me so much that I sometimes have to change my stubborn perspectives.

I am grateful for love, whether it comes in the shape of a slobbery tongue on my face or a small, sticky hand in mine.

I am grateful for professors who care enough to give me a B+.

I am grateful for my students, who challenge me to learn more than I ever wanted to about the art of persuasive writing.

I am grateful for my job, which challenges me to always seek out the counterargument, making my beliefs richer and my heart more empathetic to those that believe differently.

I am grateful for family, both my own, disjointed bunch of crazies as well as the too-many-to-remember-their-names family I gained in marrying David.

I am grateful for words that break my heart and mend it.

I am grateful for the nights I sit at home while David is at work, because they remind me that I am whole in my own right.

I am grateful for dirty dishes, because it means I have food to... just kidding, this isn't one of those grateful lists (and let's be honest--no one likes dirty dishes).

I am grateful for the memories I have of my father, and that one day I will get the chance to befriend him.

I am grateful for mountains outside of my window, because they remind me of the beauty in the world that I have not yet explored.

I am grateful for books.

I am grateful for the courage to do hard things, like visit my professors during office hours and walk into a room of 20 students and manage a budget and watch Breaking Bad before bed.

I am grateful for my faith, which reminds me that I'm inextricably connected to something greater than myself.

I am grateful for my friends, near and far, who keep me on the phone for 4 hours when I have papers to grade, who laugh at me when I'm being irrational, and who invite me to Taco Tuesday.

I am grateful for Brigham Young University for allowing me to continue my pursuit of eternal studenthood.

I am grateful for the wiring in my brain that forces me to ask the hard questions.

And finally, I am grateful for my life, every last second of it, that I can feel and breathe and try again, that I am healthy and young, that I have something to contribute to this beautiful, terrifying world.