Thankful!

(Thanks to MediaBizBloggers for publishing this first!)

Excuse me if I make this column rather personal this week. Because I am feeling rather thankful.

• Thankful that my Mom beat cancer this year.
• Thankful for being able to work with people I genuinely love.
• Thankful for working in a media environment that is more tsunami than placid sea. How fun is that?
• Thankful that I am one of the lucky people who has a job and an income, in a nation where far far far too many people do not.
• Thankful for health, joy, and my little ginger pup.
• Thankful for the blessing and curse of my work life: Powerpoint.
• Thankful that I get to write something and post it somewhere and people find it worth reading. All one of you. (Hi Dad!)
• Thankful for my own health and modest prosperity.
• Thankful for friends, family, and a roof over my head.
• Thankful for my Toughbook that takes a lickin and keeps on tickin.
• Thankful for Bridget Jones, my Scion XB, whom I love just the way she is.
• Thankful for the People’s Republic of San Francisco and all its quirky peculiarness.
• Thankful that the Governorship of California cannot be bought. Whatever your POV on policies.
• Thankful for Season Three of Jersey Shore. Yes, I know.
• Thankful that I have gotten to know fabulous people like Lissie Heinkele, Coco Jones, Lucy James, John Furey, and Joy Nestor this year.
• Thankful that I got to reconnect with magnificent people like Carol Phillips and Lori Xeller.
• Thankful that I got to keynote at iMedia Sydney and meet so many brilliant people with sexy accents.
• Thankful that my neglected friend Grecia got his teaching degree and is now surrounded with screaming 9 year olds. I hope they know how lucky they are. I expect they do.
• Thankful that I got to spend 8 hours at Powell’s bookstore in Portland last weekend.
• And while I still don’t care what you had for breakfast, I’m even thankful for Twitter.
• And 127 other wonderful people, places, and events.
• Thankful that Bill Bryson released a book this year. And Ian Sansom to boot.

Whether it’s things, people, relationships, bookstores, or your fingerprint-covered iPad, please take a moment to think of a few things you are thankful for. In this business it’s easy to get caught up in mayhem and tempests in teapots. But there is so much we can all be thankful for. What about you? What’s on your gratitude list this season?