Since it's Thanksgiving Day, I thought I would write down here some things I am thankful for. I am thankful for:

• my 15-year-old daughter, who is smart, thoughtful, warm, loving, funny, caring, conscientious, responsible, reliable, committed, compassionate, accomplished, articulate. She is the love of my life and the most wonderful thing that ever happened to me.
  
• my brother, whom I didn't always get along with, but am very grateful for now that he and I are all that remain of our family. I'm also thankful that he lives in Canada and is a Canadian citizen, because if the Constitution, and most especially the first 10 amendments of that Constitution, are declared to be as "quaint" and "antiquated" as the Geneva Conventions are now considered, having a relative in Canada might make it easier for me to move there;
  
• my animals--Shiloh, my beagle; and Exupery, Mystic, and K.C. , my cats--they remind me every day that animals are the real people;
  
• my father and mother, who are not alive anymore, but who continue to live in my memories, and who I thank for instilling in me a passion for justice and an empathy for the fragility and vulnerability of the human heart.
  
• my home, which I love and am very lucky to have;
  
• Paul, who broke my heart, but who will always have my thankfulness because falling in love and loving as deeply and completely as I did was a new experience for me, and I'm glad I had it;
  
• Books, which have given me an income, gotten me through so many rough times, educated me, entertained me, moved me, and basically made it possible to survive, both in the metaphorical and the literal sense;
  
• being Jewish, which underlies everything I am and everything that is most important to me, including books, history, law, study, justice, writing, and working for peace. I love being part of a religion that is also a civilization, with thousands of years of history, ritual, tradition, and culture informing it;
  
• freedom, to make my own moral and ethical decisions; to think, believe, read, argue, write, and speak the truth as I see it; to choose my leaders and to oppose my leaders; and to pursue whatever life choices I want to, as long as they don't harm others; and
  
• the blogosphere, in my view an unprecedented forum for self-expression, which is also apparently having a revolutionary effect on politics and journalism.