a special thanksgiving post from some of the people we're most thankful for

Happy day before Thanksgiving! We hope you are adequately preparing your stomachs for expansion and are finding success in squirreling away alcohol to consume in the hours leading up to your guests' arrival tomorrow. And now--

"--Hey, Hayley and Sarah," you rudely interrupt.

"What. Did we make a typo? SORRY, WE ARE ONLY HUMAN," we answer defensively.

"No," you sigh. "We want you to indulge in that timeless, cornier-than-Jenn's-cornbread tradition of going around and saying what you're thankful for!"

"Who are you, Sarah Huckabee Sanders? We were going to make this post about how stuffing is a metaphor for emotionally unavailable dogs," we respond snarkily.

"Pleaaase? We need some ideas for things to be thankful for when our grandmother starts the thankful game tomorrow," you beg pleadingly. "Fine," we answer. "We're thankful for all of you."

"No, really," you shoot back, suddenly irritated, eyes rolling so far back into your skulls that the momentum fucks up earth's gravitational orbit. "What are you thankful for?"

"Two (three?) can play this game," we declare. "What are YOU thankful for?"

Julia

I’m thankful for Fuji apples, antibiotics and the fact that even though there are a million and a half male creeps out there, young women still get up and go to work and go after their dreams! Also for marshmallows and friends

Rachel

Fiona the hippo, Jelly Beans, good books, and female friendships.

Vanessa

Group chats, weirdly warm October days and pho

Matthew

A non-exhaustive list would include knockoff Chilean Oreos, my education, FaceTime dates, NYT crossword puzzle, the mobility to study abroad/travel, trees

Zoe

Normal pooping, because after my bout with stomach flu, I learned you can’t take that for granted. Zoe would also like to say that she is “really grateful that I am fortunate to have hearty meals every day and not just on Thanksgiving and that I have family and friends that love me and want to celebrate with me.”

Noa

I’m thankful for getting to live in such an amazing city with so many of my friends around me, for being able to visit my family, and for that federal court judge in Hawaii.

Micaela

I am thankful for supermarket cheese dip and Jewish a cappella

Katrina

Teen Beach Movie 2, Starbucks and old friends, and another vote for Jewish a cappella singers.

Amanda

I'm thankful for small oven fires that put themselves out, Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer, Ben Platt, and emotionally unavailable men for their consistency!

Aaron

Robert Mueller

Aviva

For coming back to my mom’s house where my old camp sweatshirts keeps me warm on these cold nights, for the dog we don’t and will never have (Note from the editors: Hayley thinks this is an amoral stance), for taking hour showers that make me feel dehydrated by the end, and for the neighbor who plays “do you believe in life after love” just loud enough that I can enjoy too.

Jenn

That all of my 1st degree relatives are Democrats, that I work in an all-female practice

Anna

My friends and family (although many primarily exist right now in a 2x5 screen), safe bus drivers, and compassionate bystanders who help me navigate the multitude of confusing Israeli dairy products

Gabe

Socks, corn on the cob, tangible happiness, panfried pizza, late night dining hall wings, Planned Parenthood (Note from the editors: We, too, are thankful for Planned Parenthood, as are millions of women and families), freshly cut nails, cursing, and a lovely Netflix and poop session.

(Other) Aaron

For states where it's legal to turn right on red, for computers that are fixed after you turn them off and back on, that nobody uses cursive in real life, and the AdBlock Plus (tm) Google Chrome plugin.

Nathan

I'm thankful for Aaron Gruen's performance in Seussical.

Shosh

I'm thankful to be back in a familiar place surrounded by the best friends and having the ability to visit my family and for that one male grocery employee who gives me extra free cookies when I flirt with him

Lily

Sarah Abigail Gruen

Dani

The Q Train and NPR

The girls who live next door to Sarah

Okay so we didn’t ask them but the walls are quite thin in my apartment building and so I can hear them shouting. Thelma (I’ve given them names and imagined lives for them) is thankful for her job because her “LAZY ASS SISTER” is “FUCKING UNEMPLOYED,” and the lazy ass sister/roommate/Louise is thankful for her boyfriend because “UNLIKE YOU [you being Thelma], I HAVE A BOYFRIEND. I’M SORRY YOU’RE JEALOUS OF MY LOVE LIFE.”

Stephanie

Coffee, and that my bed loves me as much as I love it

Bruce

For the one day a year I can have a meal absent of quinoa, kale, and acai (because LA)

And finally...

Hayley:

I am thankful for my job’s oddly lax dress code, SOUP (all types but ESPECIALLY Au Bon Pain’s 12 vegetable even though I just tried and it’s more difficult than you think to name 12 vegetable), HGTV, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, BETHESDA BAGELS, men who actively try to listen to women, and CIRCLE SCARVES.

Sarah:

I'm thankful for Fresca, the Duane Reade next door to my office building, the dark chocolate Kit Kats inside the Duane Reade next door to my office building, an office with a decidedly not-open floorplan so I can watch Sex in the City and embroider to my heart’s content, my hair, the Chrome Filter, John Oliver, Smitten Kitchen, Absolute Bagels (I KNOW THERE IS MOUSE POOP IN THE BAGELS AND YES I STILL SLEEP AT NIGHT), and the thesaurus app.

And we are both very thankful for inspiring journalism, strong female role models, loyal readers, and apple pie.

#thanksgiving #family #thanks