100 Things to Be Thankful For

Thanksgiving is a time for family, overeating and if we're lucky, giving thanks. Need some ideas? Here are 100 things to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving!

1. For Saturdays that feel like Sundays and the moment we realize we still have another day in the weekend
2. For fireplaces
3. For cheerful people who remind us that happiness is a choice and make us want to choose it
4. For the slanting late afternoon sunlight
5. For the moment when a cheap bottle of wine starts to taste decent and someone proclaims "it's growing on me!"
6. For the warm, indescribable things we feel when we go on the first hike in a long time and realize that nature is just ...
7. For the books that remind us how much we love reading
8. For new beginnings forced upon us that we hate at first but learn were exactly what we needed
9. For new beginnings we courageously choose for ourselves
10. For the tears we never would have shed had we not been so lucky to have loved the thing we lost
11. For the memory of how good we used to be at hailing taxis
12. For never having to hail a taxi again
13. For live music
14. For first dates that go so well we talk until we run out of things to talk about, realize that we don't know the person, and wish we had ended it on a high note but don't really care because it went so well
15. For friends who call us on our birthday
16. For drinks in mason jars
17. For children who don't care what strangers think and remind us that we used to be tiny badasses who gave zero ****s what people thought about us
18. For almond butter being healthy
19. For the most basic things we take for granted, things like arms and legs, sight, and a single person who cares about us being alive or dead
20. For meeting up with old friends and realizing that nothing has changed
21. For a good laugh just when we needed it
22. For the patter of rain that lulls us to sleep
23. For paper books
24. For freshly baked bread
25. For board games
26. For white wine on a Saturday afternoon
27. For red wine in a warm room on a cold night
28. For the things we may never fully understand like dreams, music and art
29. For the people who laugh at our dumb jokes
30. For the farmers who grow our food, the inventors who created their tools, the workers who package and deliver it and the clerks who sell it to us with a smile
31. For being with loved ones in person and realizing that this is what life is all about
32. For the courage to jump into the cold ocean, even if we immediately get out
33. For the friends who push us to be less lazy and more adventurous
34. For ice skating
35. For visiting old places and remembering old moments
36. For the moments we almost skip our workout, miraculously summon the will to do it anyway, and feel so good afterwards that we can't imagine we ever considered bailing
37. For anyone, anywhere who ever put their differences aside
38. For the friends who never bail
39. For the friends who forgive us for bailing
40. For the people who sing or dance in their car like no one is watching
41. For the moments in a rough patch when we realize that, against all odds, we feel a little bit better and are starting to get over it
42. For being in a relationship and avoiding the petty superficiality of single life
43. For being single and avoiding the boring delusion of relationship life
44. For meditation and the path to self discovery and peace it will forever offer us
45. For the unexpected challenges we despise while they bend us, and the wisdom they give us for not breaking
46. For the friends who don't give up on inviting us after seemingly endless rejections
47. For the friends and family that don't let us grow up too quickly
48. For the stories our family tells about us as kids that we have zero recollection of but feel pretty cool about
49. For the ridiculously stupid things that make us laugh and the people who say or do them
50. For costume parties, and how lucky we are to live in a society peaceful and prosperous enough where costume parties are even remotely an option
51. For long drives with good friends
52. For the dreamers who never gave up
53. For friends who stick up for us
54. For design so good we never notice it
55. For free delivery
56. For the people who pull over on the side of the road just to admire a view
57. For Uber and Lyft drivers so genuinely friendly they overrule our attempts to hide in our phones and end up getting us to tell them our life stories
58. For avocado
59. For the sunrises and sunsets we never cared to watch that will always be waiting for us next time
60. For songs so good we put them on repeat until we hate them
61. For campfires
62. For the friends with tiny stomachs who give us their leftovers every time
63. For the people who come to our parties by themselves despite not knowing anyone
64. For the feeling of immense satisfaction after folding and putting away the last bit of laundry
65. For coffee breaks
66. For the people who saw more in us than we saw in ourselves
67. For being a tiny speck on a tiny speck next to a tiny speck of light in a universe with more suns than grains of sand on Earth (it's true)
68. For hope
69. For farmer's markets
70. For the moments when we treat ourselves
71. For the moments when we resist
72. For baristas who remember our names
73. For people who remember meeting us even when we've forgotten, and aren't afraid to tell us
74. For the teachers who cared the most and will remember us long after we've forgotten them
75. For the servers who put up with annoying groups that have included us at times
76. For good vibes, and the people, places or stories that create them
77. For the people who overrule our extended hand with a "nope -- I'm coming in" hug
78. For the people both living and dead who invented all the things we take for granted, from the sole of our shoe to the lines on our streets
79. For the feeling of finally being home
80. For the terrible dancers who give zero ****s and make everyone comfortable taking it up a notch
81. For the strangers who smile and say hello on the sidewalk
82. For living in an age where invisible knowledge travels through the air and shows up before us in thousands of tiny lights that simulate a written page
83. For the people who taught us how to read
84. For the workers in all the kitchens who made our food and we never have and probably never will thank
85. For being alive during the next sixty seconds
86. For airplanes that get us home safely to see family and friends
87. For stretchy pants
88. For shooting stars
89. For the pizza, fist pound and grinning face emojis
90. For pajamas, onesies and fuzzy socks
91. For the beginning of every wedding season
92. For the end of every wedding season
93. For handwritten cards and the people who write them
94. For holiday lights and their overpowering jollyness
95. For the smell of fresh cut grass
96. For scented candles
97. For national parks and the people who fight for them, maintain them and welcome us to them
98. For the freedom to sleep in, and all the good reasons not to
99. For our "planner" friends without whom we would do the same things over and over
100. For our parents, who deserve a list of their own

This story originally appeared on Medium. If you want to see more of my stories, Follow me there. And of course, feel free to e-mail me. I'd love to hear from you.

If you're in San Francisco, check out my startup Livday. Our app makes it insanely easy to find amazing things to do in the city like secret hikes, creative dates and weekend adventures. Cheers!