Every day when my fingers touch my keyboard, I thank my lucky stars. I’ve always loved to write, but never truly dared to dream of a day when I’d make a living by stringing one word after the next. Yet here I am, clack clack clacking away. Granted, the paycheck I get isn’t large by anyone’s standards. But it’s a paycheck, nonetheless. And I earn it by doing what I love most. That’s definitely something to be thankful for.

There have been tough times, to be sure, in these last 12 months. But it is the things in which we find joy, and which give us hope, which get us through those dark hours. Despite the ups and downs, or maybe because of them, I find I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.