What I’m Thankful for This Year 2016

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
Facebook
The freelance writing gigs I had this year
Holidays
And lastly…THAT THE ELECTION IS FINALLY OVER!

What are you thankful for this year?