thankful

what are you thankful for?

during our closing meeting at A last night, B asked us to go around and share one thing we're thankful for in our lives. in such a stressful economic climate, it's so easy to get sucked into negativity, but what about all those things we still have? "i still have my job and i am so grateful. so many of my friends have been laid off and i'm still working...i can pay my rent. i have an adorable dog. and i have all you guys."

when my turn came around, i said something to the extent of this: i am thankful for positive thinking. i am thankful for lots of things, but one of the invigorating things about this time that we are living in, is that so many people are taking a step back and reassessing the important things in their lives. we might not be able to live as extravagantly as we want to, we might realize that the material goods we consume (a bit of a cache 22 working in retail...)* aren't our livelihood. we have friends and family. we have creativity. we have the mountains and the beach, the sky and the ocean.

i may have added that last line about the mountains and the beach and the sky and the ocean, but i like it anyhow. i think i said that i am thankful for A, even though I only work there a few days a week. it does give me a tiny bit of structure in my otherwise sporadic life.

i am thankful for B's optimism. thank you, B, for allowing us to be consciously thankful.


*a note about working at A, however. i truly believe that it's a company based on more than a basic consumer culture. the art and atmosphere of the store make the experience something beyond the stuff that fills it's walls, which is very cool.