Gratitude is the quality of being thankful, readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. Oftentimes, I’ve learned, it is something felt in fleeting moments, as simple as someone holding the door open for you. It’s something that is a part of and has a significant effect on a bigger picture: my life. 

When I think about people I’m grateful for, it’s impossible to not start with my parents. So here’s to them, without whom I would quite literally not be alive. They somehow put up with my severe — and somewhat pathetic — people phobia when I was young, and are continuing to put up with my existence now. Parenting isn’t easy (though I wouldn’t know . . . ), but I like to think they’re doing a great job of it. I can’t imagine how much stress my random baking endeavors probably have caused them.

Then there’s my friends — from school, karate, online, and elsewhere. I don’t quite know what to say, and nor do I want to dive into specifics. But thank you for being there to have fun with, to experience the highs and lows of my life with, to share food with (or, sometimes, take food from…), and even to watch “ailaughtatmyownjokes” videos with (no, seriously, her channel is hilarious). I’m especially grateful for cdve, not a real name but one my closest friends came up with for herself — if you’re reading this, thank you so much for constantly being there, and I really hope you feel the same way towards me; I love you. (As friends, if that wasn’t clear.) To paraphrase, gracefully sung by Taylor Swift in “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things”: “Here’s a toast to my real friends / They don’t care about the ‘he said, she said.’”

Of course I cannot leave out my teachers, no matter how strict, talkative, eccentric, or fun they are. For that matter, I can’t talk about teachers without mentioning one of my favorite teachers of all time — Mrs. Colleen Jbeily. Without her, Algebra 1 would have definitely been very dry, even though I would’ve probably read during it either way (in my defense, Kumon had already covered it).

And perhaps “gratitude” is not the right word for how I feel about the family friends we meet with for one occasion or the other; such meetings bore me yet the comfort of a familiar presence is always welcomed. But they still deserve a mention. And here’s to the pets, too:. so thankful to have pets in my life even if I most unfortunately don’t have any myself.

But as a reader, I can hardly only be thankful for the people in my life. Media has gotten its own separate corner in my life: books, movies, music. Book characters have been imprinted on me, whether it may be due to a phase as unhealthy as my Harry Potter (still a Ravenclaw through and through) one was , or my certain fondness towards Grayson Hawthorne from “The Inheritance Games” by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (some would say it’s an obsession).

And then there’s my sister, probably the best and absolutely worst person I know. I should’ve probably talked about her after my parents, but somehow it felt right to give her her own section. So to her, I’m eternally grateful — I don’t think she’ll ever stop being annoying to me. Her humor is absolutely appalling (and perhaps even a bit concerning), her obsession with certain cities (cough, New York City, cough) is infuriating, her never-ending Taylor Swift phase is tiresome, and yet, somehow, I don’t think I could live without any of those. No matter how much I say and act otherwise, I don’t think I could live without her.

Though, on second thought, perhaps I could live without the constant talk about the supposed glory of NYC.

But her NYC obsession is not the point. The point is “gratitude.” We certainly don’t need a month or a holiday to think about it, but the month of November, with the celebration of Thanksgiving, is the time to truly understand it, to celebrate it, and to cherish it. 

So now, I invite you to answer the question that sparked me to write this: What are you grateful for?