Day of Gratitude

I am thankful for my family who loves me. I am thankful for a daughter who values education and had the courage to make the difficult and informed decision to go back to school and finish her education. I am thankful that that same daughter values honesty more, and upon realizing that formal education was not for her, decided not to make herself and everyone around her miserable. I am thankful for friends who understand my physical limitations and care about me anyway. I am thankful for my parents who contribute to my career by allowing me to live in their home rent-free.

I am thankful for having a netbook with a long battery life, especially when the power goes out and I have work to do. I am thankful for a car that takes us where we need to go. I am thankful for Shen Hart, who founded Literary+ just when I needed more help with marketing. I am thankful for people who are willing to pitch in and work together to help a single member of the group succeed. There are many peer groups who will drag everyone down to the same level, but very few that will work together to build everyone up. I am thankful for my nook, because it makes it possible for me to read thick books with my increasingly arthritic hands and wrists.

I am thankful to the Lord for giving me a good imagination I can use to write books with, and a talent for using computers that has made the rest of my publishing journey possible.

I am thankful for all of my teachers at Chandler-Gilbert Community College for helping me learn what I needed and for accommodating my increasing special needs as I worked toward graduation. I learned a lot even from the really…shall we say…unique individuals with whom I did not particularly agree. I am thankful to the US government for funding the Pell Grant program, and not restricting it to young poor people, because this is how I funded my education.

~Marie