Happy Thanksgiving, True Believers!
By now you should know this was coming. Every year I list off the many things I’m thankful for. It is, after all, what Thanksgiving is about, right? It’s not just food, family, and football. Admittedly, this holiday season is a bit more melancholy for me what with the death of my Grandma Ruth, but it is my determination to practice the holiday.
So, with that, here’s my list for 2016.
- God the Father
- Jesus Christ
- The Holy Spirit
- My salvation
- The Bible
- My wonderful family
- That I’ll soon be an uncle again
- That my Grandma was reunited with Grandpa in heaven and is no longer suffering (though I still miss them)
- My amazing friends
- My equally amazing writer friends
- The Fort Wayne Ballroom Company (FWBC)
- My “dance family” at FWBC
- That I got to perform at FWBC’s showcases and at a charity event with two wonderful instructors/partners
- Ballroom/social dancing
- For all the conventions I attended this year
- My car, which I named Silver Sable (206,000 miles and still going!)
- My church
- My gaming consoles and video games
- My book collection
- My movie collection
- My laptop
- My music collection
- My day job
- That I’ve paid down my student loan debt by nearly half in almost two years
- My cosplays
- That I’m a published author
- Hades Publications/EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy, which published my first novel and still has me under contract
- CreateSpace, which publishes my self-published books
- That I published by first short story collection this year: The Worlds of Nathan Marchand
- That I’ll have a new novel published in 2017 (more on that later)
- My strong sense of justice
- The house I live in
- My talent for writing
- all for One Productions (afO)
- Volunteering for afO
- My YouTube channel
- For being part of the team writing at Children of the Wells
- That I’m creative
- My intellectual mind
- My poet’s soul
- My warrior’s heart
- That I can read
- My iPhone 5S
- That I’m an American
- That I’m a Hoosier
- Summertime
- October (the “sweet spot” of autumn)
- Changing seasons
- Christian Gamers Guild
- GameChurch
- Theology Gaming
- My sense of humor
- The North Webster Community Public Library
- The Constitution, which lists my inalienable rights.
- My “superpowers” (rarely get sick, my “BS” sense, look much younger than I am, heal fast from injuries).
- My health
- Netflix
- That I got to meet some awesome celebrities this year (Brent Spiner, Ian McDiarmid, Ray Park, etc.)
- My camera
- My knack for photography
- Pretzels
- Exercising at the gym.
- My comic book collection
- Chimp’s Comics
- B.E. Comics
- My board game collection
- My nerdiness
- The police and their service
- The military and their service
- My journal(s)
- My website (NathanJSMarchand.com)
- My fandoms
- Gen-Con
- The family pets
- Bookstores
- Spaghetti
- Highland toffee (the family recipe)
- Amazon.com
- Movie theatres
- My college degree
- Running water
- That I’m tall
- That I still have all my hair
- Football
- That I got to play kickball with great co-workers/friends
- (Most of) My coworkers
- The generosity of others
- The TUFW Alumni and Friends Center
- That I attended TUFW
- The YMCA
- For living in the countryside
- Plumbing
- The Internet
- That I somehow won the “fantasy bowl” when I tried fantasy football for the first time (beginner’s luck?)
- That I’m on the verge of starting my own podcast
- My big tax refund
- The freelance writing gigs I had this year
- Holidays
- And lastly…THAT THE ELECTION IS FINALLY OVER!
What are you thankful for this year?