Dreams and Dragons: Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! No matter how you celebrate (or even if you don't celebrate at all), today is an excellent day to be thankful- and so I'm marking it with a list of things for which I'm giving thanks today.

I'm thankful for . . .

Thanksgiving break! I'm so happy to be back home with my family for a little while. Even if it's not quite as schoolwork-free as Christmas break will be, it's still wonderful. I've missed them a ton while I was at college- my sister in particular. We aren't doing anything especially exciting, but it's nice to be able to just hang out and talk and play games.
Audiobooks. Because without them, the already-long drive to get basically anywhere would feel even longer. Also, because there's something special and wonderful in being read to, and audiobooks are a socially acceptable way for people of any age to experience that.
The fact that God knows what He's doing with my life way better than I do and that my parents are wise enough to recognize it when I don't. White Sulpher Springs, my internship this past summer, Honors, my whole schedule this semester . . . God has opened so many doors and worked so many things out in the past year and a half, things that I never would've chosen for myself but which have turned out to be incredible blessings.
The incredibly long summer. Until last Saturday, temperatures at my college had stayed in the upper-50s-lower-60s range. That's the longest Indian summer I've ever seen, and it was lovely. Believe me: I appreciated every day of it (particularly since that weather is the easiest in which to look nice: it's warm enough that you don't have to wear heavy coats and hats and sweatshirts to keep from freezing, but it's cool enough that you can wear long sleeves and cardigans).
However, I'm also thankful for cold weather . . . Because it's a lot easier to restrain oneself from ice cream when it's a chilly 38° outside than when it's an unseasonably warm 60-something. Also, my roommate gets excited when she gets to wear sweaters, and her excitement is generally contagious.
Mail. Getting mail in college is as exciting as it was when I was 10 or so; I'm not getting college advertisements anymore, and so anything I do get is something personal . . . or a grade, but that's still exciting, just for different reasons.
Sunrises, which I'll probably be seeing a lot more of in the next few months, since I'll be walking to breakfast around the crack of dawn. They're still beautiful, though, as is golden morning light on the lake.
Homemade meals. Don't get me wrong. Being a generally positive person, I like the dining hall, and I can almost always find or assemble something tasty. But it can't compare to my mom's cooking. (We had cheeseburger soup last night, which is one of my absolute favorites. And she made my favorite cranberry granola for me as well! Have I mentioned that my mom is awesome?)
Random discoveries of fun music. Like when a friend and I found LEAH a few years ago (a discovery that would lead to inspiration for one of my novels), or when my TPS friends introduced me to Starset, or when I tried this Asian Epicness playlist and found out that I really like Asian music, or my recent discovery of Nightcore covers (which, I've discovered, are sometimes bad but also are sometimes really sweet and cute-sounding). As a general rule, it's really cool to explore a new artist or genre of music and find inspiration and stories in the songs.
And, last but not least, my friends, both old and new. I'm thankful for the friends I knew before college, whether online or off, for those who've chatted with me and prayed for me and helped me grow and supported me through moving and starting college and everything else. And I'm grateful for the community of new friends I've met at college, for those in my hall and in Honors and in my Bible study group and my major, and those who I don't even know how I know them, I just know that I do and they're awesome.