Cheese-Free Thankfulness

Outside has grown dark and cold. As the sun sets, trees of green begin to look black. Streetlights appear between branches. Red lights atop high rises begin to mark the nighttime horizon as planes carrying Thanksgiving travelers descend into Mineta International Airport.

The sky is now dark purple and fluorescent lights from my cubicle reflect in the window, making the city difficult to see. It won't be long before I'm amongst the high-rises, having dinner and partaking in pre-Thanksgiving festivities.

This year, I'm thankful for many things and many people. While it's easy to become cheesy during these times, I'm thankful for the freedom to be cheese-free. If I were to list everything for which I'm thankful, I could cop out and say life, love, family, friends, health, blah blah blah, but I won't. Tomorrow, when sitting around the table with loved ones, feasting on a turkey, I'll be most thankful for them, but also thankful for the following:

• Boston winning the World Series
• another season of The Amazing Race
• Pixar
• Keane
• The Sims 2
• spam filters
• the snooze button
• Yosemite
• Salzburg
• penny machines (those machines where you pay fifty cents so it can have its way with your perfectly shiny penny and make it pretty, but worth less than a penny)

This list was assembled on the fly, but I'm satisfied with it. Happy Thanksgiving!