What am I thankful for?

Rachel and I are “getting away” for the Thanksgiving holiday (and taking our first official vacation together in over a year).

As we sit here on a plane to sunny San Diego, and since we won’t be following our usual routines of going around the dinner table with family sharing our thoughts, I wanted to write about mine here.

I’m thankful for…

1. My wife: she’s a smarter, friendlier, stronger, and all-around better person than I am. And I’m reminded each and every day of both how I should strive to live and how lucky I am to be able to share my life with her.

2. My family: they’re always there with love, support, friendship, stories, discussions, and all-around good times. I will continue to spend more time with and prioritize family above all.

3. My friends: sometimes I take for granted the brilliant, fun, wonderful people that are just a phone call, text message, or Slack channel away. I want to be a better friend and have even more shared memories with them.

4. My health: after losing a friend to cancer this year I’m even more thankful for the time I’ve been able to share with Rachel, my family, and friends. I need to keep taking care of myself so I can continue to spend time with these people.

5. My career: what I do for “work” every day rarely feels like it. I can be impactful, alongside amazing people, in an area I’m so very interested in and aligned with. I’m glad to have found GitHub and thankful they’ll still have me.

It may sound trite but when life gets busy or hard, these things are great reminders about what’s important. It’s no coincidence these are all the most prominent things in my life and I’m lucky to have them just the way they are.