Giving Thanks

I have a friend who started a blog called "Naked Thanks" where she and her co-hort write one thank you note every day for a year. The entries are "naked" in the sense there are no false pretenses, no heavy adjectives to fill the spaces, just raw thanks. It's incredible and hilarious and these two women have a fantastic point of view that makes for amazing reading. But after being inspired by some of their entries I thought of a few things I was thankful for - and although I'm not a pro, I'll try to make them as naked as possible.

-Thank you best friend. You know who you are because I just call you 'best friend.' Thank you for teaching me the wonders of cooking a hot dog "New England style." Thank you for not making me feel fat when we would have nights filled with brownies and box mac and cheese. Thank you for having a rooftop pool for a few months. Thanks for cleaning when I was up at 5am everyday media monitoring and not making me feel badly about it. Thanks for introducing me to the wild world of 'sleepytime tea.'

-Thank you DC Public Transport. You have introduced me to some of the greatest stories in DC. Thank you for mixing all sorts of people all together, putting us in a cramped space and making us ride together while you wildly pump the brakes and fling us against each other. I have often enjoyed the smells of my fellow Washingtonians early in the morning after their sweaty trek to the bus. I've sometimes even been lucky enough to slip in to one of those trains that doesn't have working air conditioning in the summer - now boy, those are a fierce hot ride!

-Thank you for rain. It proves who in DC can really drive.

-Thank you for sleet. For if I hadn't seen it actually fall to the ground with my own two eyes I would have never believed it. Where I'm from sleet is what accrues on the ground after it came down as snow and a few hundred cars drove through it. It definitely did not fall from the sky and it was not considered 'winter weather,' sleet was what winter threw up and let everyone stomp all over. There is some sort of comparison there but the witty comment is escaping me...

-Thank you for the right not to be represented in Congress. They're screwing everything up so badly right now, it gives me a sense of ease to know that I didn't have any responsibility in bringing any of them in.

-Thank you for lobbyists. Only, because they throw all those parties with all those free cocktails and the awesome spanokopitas. They may get a bad rap, doing all that special interest business and blocking legislation - but they really throw some awesome parties. If you're ever thinking about coming to DC, follow those hill staffers right to all the awesome parties that include free food and booze.

-Thank you for the endless summer. It allows all the ugly men in DC the chance to get tan so from afar or whilst intoxicated look like sunkissed adonises.