Thanksgiving Day. By now, you all know how this goes: I sit around typing on and off all day, coming up with thirty things I'm thankful for, one for every day of the month. In the spirit of Capricornian routine, I really want to do exactly that, but in the spirit of growth and defiance of the boundaries I've set upon myself, I'm doing things differently today. Today instead of thinking and searching just to show how truly "thankful" I am and prove that even in a world smothered in darkness (and I'm not talking This Year's Covid World (this year's been great for me!), I'm talking Kismet's Every Year World), there's always light, I'm doing the biggies and the biggies alone aka the things for which I'm truly thankful. It's going to be a shorter list, for sure, but it's going to be more meaningful. At least to me.
Here we go.
Things I'm Thankful For, 2020
1. La Dispute Guy. It's a shock even to me, but this year top billing goes to him. Once upon a time, I had a list of criteria for things I wanted in a boy, an exact picture or at least concept in my head (I wanted a smart, not-at-all fat, tall, 25-to-35-year-old indie/emo atheist with no kids). Then I met LDG, a short, little-bit-past chubby bald guy who I initially found so unattractive without a hat, the word monstrosity actually crossed my mind when it fell off the first time we kissed, who not only missed the criteria in the looks department but also had not one or two or three, but four kids. And I semi fell in love with him. After that experience, I realized I'd been being stupid and rigid with my list, and I loosened up, and thank everything in this world and every other world that exists that I did because if I didn't I wouldn't be with
2. My Virgo. I know what you're thinking. I swear, I know. Of course Kismet's going to talk about a boy, and yes, of course I am, but I'm not talking about a boy because it's my MO, I'm talking about a boy because I couldn't possibly make a list of the things I'm thankful for this year without mentioning him. He is by far what I'm most thankful for, today on Thanksgiving, yes, but also every single day that's not.
3. Quarantine. Oh, quarantine, you dichotomous son-of-a bitch. When you first started mid-March, I hated your guts. I could do nothing but sit in the house, bored and terrified of catching Covid from my then-roommate/nephew Ty, but as time went by, what a great thing you turned out to be (for me, anyway; I realize for a lot of the rest of the world, this isn't the case). Thanks to you, I finally became one-hundred percent vegan, I renovated my house, and most significantly, I stopped the pattern I'd become entrenched in regarding men. Because I couldn't leave the house, I couldn't go meet someone, end up in bed with him, and then either not be able to stand or completely fall for him. Instead, I was forced to actually talk to people, to get to know them slowly with my Achilles' heel erased from the equation, and as a result, well, see number 2. Also a result of quarantine?
4. Yoga. Sure, I'd done yoga sporadically through the years, but with all the time I had to do nothing, I started practicing daily, and I cannot begin to tell you how much I feel like it's helped my life, both body and mind. Now that I'm back at work, it's harder to practice as consistently, and whenever it's been too long that I've gone without, I see a significant difference.
5. Going back to work. I know what I said two numbers ago, but hear me out. Yes, quarantine was (is) great, but sitting in the house with Keifer and Erica all day every day? Not so much. Going back to work gives me a reason to get up, get cute, and get out.
6. Still, as thankful as I am that I get to leave these four walls, I wouldn't be nearly as happy if kids actually came to school, and so the number six thing I'm thankful for is that I have exactly one student on black days and either three or four on gold days.
7. And speaking of work, not only am I thankful it makes me leave the house and I don't have students, but I'm also thankful I have a work to go to at all. So many people have suffered so much economically because of this pandemic, and I'm exponentially grateful that that hasn't happened to me. I guess while I'm talking about things I'm grateful for in relation to this pandemic, I also have to mention
8. My health. Not only have people suffered economically, but as everyone knows, a vast number have suffered in a much graver way. I consider myself very lucky neither I nor anyone I love has been affected like this.
9. The modified AP exam. Another byproduct of quarantine, or I suppose Covid (I just hate to thank Covid because it's done so many bad things to so many people), is that the AP exam, instead of being three essays and a multiple choice section, was one essay, and not only was it one essay, it was a rhetorical analysis essay at that. Why am I thankful for this? I may question my ability to do a lot of things, but teaching kids how to write a rhetorical analysis essay is not one of them, and as a result of the modified test, eighty-seven percent of my students passed the AP exam, the highest pass rate for AP Lang in the history of my high school. If the exam had been the normal one, that never would have happened.
10. Weed. No, I didn't start doing drugs; however, I happen to live with two drug addicts, one who had dental work done and couldn't do any drugs for a couple weeks, and let me tell you, talk about a nightmare. I hate that I think like this, but a sober Keifer is not a Keifer I want to be around.
11. Joe Biden winning the election. No need to elaborate here.
12. My voice. I started to lose it a little in this relationship--imagine that, right? Me shutting the fuck up--through no fault of anyone's but mine, but I'm finally getting it back. Sometimes the effect of it might not be so good, but to quote Tegan and Sara, This thing that I'm saying, is it better than keeping my mouth shut? That goes without saying.
You know what? Since 12 is my favorite number, we're going to stop here. I'm not a fan of long outros, so Happy Thanksgiving, people who read my blog, and as always, I'll wish you the same thing I wish for me, which is a life of love and peace.
