The Aftermath

In the wake of the Boston Marathon, as in the wake of Sandy Hook, as in the wake of 9/11, I experienced two unoriginal, knee-jerk reactions that have come to feel a little too familiar: 1) horror and disgust that so-called humans could do this to other humans and 2) gratitude for obvious and weird things.

Doesn't gratitude always feel like a requisite emotion after terrible things happen to other people? And yet, my list feels different, because it's defiant gratitude in the face of terrorists and their pressure cooker bombs. Here is the list of things I'm thankful for:

1. My family and friends, M's family and friends, M, and all of our working limbs and health and love for each other and being alive-ness.

2. That I live in America, and my fellow Americans and I are allowed to post about our outrage and grief, and we're not terrified to voice our opinions, nor too numb and weary from being oppressed.

3. My faith in Jesus.

4. My faith in heroes.

5. Coffee, sunshine, books, laughter, the smell of babies - all of the Chicken Soup for the Soul stuff. I appreciate all of it.

My nephew and niece, top of the list and symbols of humanity.

6. My job, and that I have one to go to everyday, and that I have the potential everyday to do it well.

7. QuestCrew, winners of the third season of MTV's America's Best Dance Crew, and my freedom to vote for them multiple times (some things can't be unsaid, but I'm not embarrassed).

8. My longboard, which hasn't moved from my stairwell since my third date with M. I don't enjoy surfing, but I like having the option.

9. Piers Morgan's face when Susan Boyle opens her mouth to sing for the first time. Pure, unadulterated shock never gets old.

10. The fact that someone, at some point, made Free Willy 1, 2, and 3, all of which I own, thanks to a loving father who wanted to foster my 8th grade career interest in marine biology, i.e. dolphin training.

11. Blake Shelton and Adam Levine's chemistry on The Voice.

12. Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon's myriad versions of The History of Rap.

13. The fact that someone set up a Twitter account for Sarah Vowell, and that she has 1,214 followers, without even putting up a profile picture, sending out one tweet, or following one person. True hipsters do exist.

14. My copy of American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham. I'm mostly thankful for Meacham's ability to make White House politics palatable for those of us with average IQ's. (P.S. Did you know Jackson challenged someone to a duel, and won? And lived the rest of his life with a bullet in his body? All because someone insulted his wife. Someone like that was bound to be responsible for things like the Trail of Tears. Anyway.)

15. That, when I was single, I stumbled across books on dating that made me feel better about my relatively mundane experiences. Specifically, People are Unappealing, I Don't Care about Your Band, and The Late Bloomer's Revolution.

16. That I am now married. To a man who will let me watch Wanda Sykes' stand-up comedy (because it's free on Amazon Prime) and suffer through an hour of it before realizing I fell asleep on his lap fifty minutes ago.

This list is proof to myself that humanity is capable of many things besides terror and hurting each other. Liberty, raw talent, humor, creative genius, courage, love...these things exist in abundance, and can be molded into many, many different permutations of people and things to be thankful for. And no act of terror can take that away.

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