Thankful Thursday

In honor of the season, and in keeping with my inherently sappy and sentimental nature, I had planned on doing a "Thankful Thursday" post each week in November; obviously my obsessive blogging last week messed that up, although I suppose that my finishing up the Secret Origin series last Thursday made all of you blog monkeys feel pretty thankful.

So, what does your good Cap'n have to be thankful for?

Originally, I had planned to line up each of my Thankful Thursday posts with whichever group I was going to be interacting with that weekend, since my November was booked solid with activities with Parkerites, Book Monkeys, Singles, and family; it would have worked out so well, thematically speaking. But, I missed the first Thursday, and then the Book Monkey gathering fell through, so now I have to juggle my structure around a bit; now instead of leading into the gathering, I shall use it as a springboard instead; so, fresh off of my adventures in Eeeeeeeeevil, TX, here's Thankful Thursday: The Parkerite Edition.

• I am thankful for Zinger and Pooh, who kept in touch when nobody else did, and who have extended their hospitality to me so often that I sometimes take it for granted
• I am thankful for Flunky and the many, many times he patiently listened to me vent about my latest neurotic crisis; I'm also thankful for his concern and advice about my health and financial well-being, even if I never take it
  
• I am thankful, in retrospect, for Dr. G'ovich and the way he constantly challenges me; I might not always appreciate it in the moment, but his pushing and questioning of me have forced me to push and question myself as well, instead of sticking my head in the sand
  
• I am thankful for my former roomies who dragged me kicking and screaming off of my lazy butt and out of my shell
• I am thankful for email, instant messenger, and online message boards, without which I probably wouldn't be in contact with any of these folks anymore
• I am extremely thankful that in the past couple of years I've been able to rebuild some bridges I once thought irreparable
• And above all, I'm thankful for over 12 years of being part of this group, who I really do think of as family; after all nobody but family would be willing to put up with my crap for so long, right?