50505

More will be written about this later, but I am proud to say that I won this year's NaNoWriMo with 50,505 words!  And, best of all, there's a LOT more novel waiting to be written!

What Am I Thankful For? Friends

Wednesday was a helluva day.

I finally accepted, in the small earliest hours of morning, that a friend I cared about and had invested in over the years really just was no longer was a friend. I didn't sleep much, but had a good day at work, including the traditional Day-Before-Thanksgiving-Sushi-Lunch I do with a good friend every year. Then, within an hour of each other after work, I found out:

That my NaNoWriMo word count was almost 4k words short,

That my Mom just came down with Shingles and, since we're pretty sure I've never had chicken pox, that I wouldn't be able to spend Christmas at the folks,

And then, even worse, that very good friends were going to have to put their awesome puppy-dog Max down that night, totally out of the blue. So I went over to be with them for a bit, and say goodbye to him.

So. What I am thankful for now that Thanksgiving itself has hit?

I'm thankful for friends.

Within minutes of posting the news to twitter I had friends asking if they could help and offering kind words and love for me, for Max, and for his family; and to my Mom as well. Just like that. I'm thankful that we not only live in an age of instant communication, but that we use it to support each other. I'm thankful that my friends welcomed Max as part of their family, and took such great care of him when it was time. I'm thankful for the friends close to me who understand when I tear up about it. The word count now seems like a stupid thing to fret over with everything else, but I'm thankful for those friends who understand that, too.

So when you toast tonight, remember those people in your life who are there for you. Thanksgiving is perhaps not so much about only having good news, but knowing you're never going to have to face the bad news alone.

And if you could toast an awesome puppy dog named Max, and send some love to his family, that'd be pretty awesome too.

Thanks all