The Things I Am Grateful For

With the bird in the oven and the Secret Bosworth stuffing resting flavorfully inside it, it is time to ask: What am I thankful for?
Well, first, I’m grateful for you.  All of you, reading this now.  I sit here every day and blurt off whatever comes to mind, and you people respond with such zest and thoughtful feedback and counterpoints that I want to post the next day.  The reason I have these meme-days is because I like you all so much that there are times I don’t have much to say but want to keep hearing from you.
The number-one thing I hear when people email me is, “You don’t know me, but…”  But comments are the best part of this blog.  If you’ve commented a bunch of times, there’s a good chance I know who you are, since that’s my favorite part.  Me writing?  Fuck that.  I knew I felt that already.
You responding?  That’s the juice, man.  And so I keep doing it because I fucking love you all. Seriously.
Second, I’m grateful for the poly-loves in my life: By happy coincidence, I’ve been dating Bec and Angie for three years now, since we started up in the same month, and that places them squarely in the tied third-fourth place for “Ferrett’s longest relationship.”  Only my fiancee Bari lasted longer, and that wasn’t as nearly as happy as it’s been with Bec and Angie.  Angie’s silly texts and shared joy and obscure lusts for Sims and Top Gear, Bec’s quirky attitudes and shared music and dancing movements – both of them have continually raised the bar on “what a good relationship is,” and I thank them for continuing to put up with my delightful oscillations between arrogance and neurosis.
Also, the sex is hawt.
In that vein, I’d like to thank Jenna and Jen and for being in my life, neither of whom I see nearly enough, both of whom fill my life with joy and happiness and occasional bits of blistering desire.  I generally don’t mention other people in here for fear of dragging them onto a stage that they did not ask for and would get undue attention should they left, but today’s a little different because they are awesome.
I’m grateful for a strong family; my Dad, who’s been a rock of support, and my Mom, who helped bless me with a wondrous new kitchen this year.  I got damn good parents in the scheme of things – the kind of parents so good that they divorced when I was young and yet never once did I feel an ebbing of love or felt like a football kicked between them.  Now that I’m older, I understand just how much it took to make that transition seamless, and for that I thank them.
(Also, my Uncle Tommy.  I had three parents.  Tommy’s gone now, but I still feel that ache of loss like a phantom limb every time I publish a story and realize I’m not able to tell him.  I realize now that if he were alive, it would be a ritual where he’d be the first person I called whenever I sold a story, and I can’t, and that stimulates a flow of tears.)
I’m grateful for two strong daughters, Amy and Erin.  I don’t mention them here because their story is not mine to tell, but they make me prouder every day as they find their own rhythms.
I’m grateful for a lot of good local friends who bring me joy.  I’m grateful for my um-daughters (and now an um-son!) from the Meyers, and of course the Meyers themselves.
I’m grateful for the people who are helping me along my kinkier journeys in life this year, particularly those I’ve been texting with to help me explore such things.  You know who you are, even as I do not name you today.  But I often try stuff out on you first to see how it goes over in real life, and that’s an exploratory process that really helps me more than you can ever know.  Also, I always enjoy dirty pictures and I like that you like thumbing that button.
I’m grateful for all of my writer-friends who’ve helped me grow, supported me when I thought I sucked, critiqued my manuscripts, and just shared the usual frustrations of creating beauty and getting it rejected.  In particular my Viable Paradise buddies and Clarion classmates/teachers, the Codex group, Nayad, and of course my local buds at Cajun Sushi Hamsters who have helped force-evolve me from TheFerrett to my third-stage evolution as Ferrett Steinmetz.
Also, if you’re an editor and have actually paid me money for one of my stories, I’m never quite sure why, but I remain endlessly grateful.
I’m grateful for teeth.  You never know how grateful you are for teeth until you don’t have front ones for four years, but having them has made all the difference in the goddamned world.  Even if they cost us so much that we’re gonna be in the hole this Christmas.
And lastly, the word “thankful” doesn’t even cover it for the love I feel for Gini.  I mention my other poly-loves, but I literally could not do it without her – her continual feedback and gentle questioning makes me far wiser than I ever am.  She is the other half of my soul, the person who I need to talk to because my joy is never complete until I share it with her, the best kisser in the world, and a source of amazing wisdom and beauty and holy God, stuff. Words run out when I try to describe in indescribable, and that is the gratitude and adoration I feel towards her.
Also, the sex is hawt.