Live From The Lab, It's Thanksgiving Night

So, what does the girl who just dismantled the cell shaker with a hex key at 11 PM on Thanksgiving have to be thankful for?

A cell shaker to dismantle. Cells that go on that shaker -- an 120 mg yield of cells, more than I've had in a long time. Thankful for a lab to go to -- a lab that pays me to go to school. I'm thankful to escape from higher learning with very little debt. I'm thankful that I live in a country where I, as a woman, can be freely educated. Can be free, period. I'm thankful for all of the women scientists who've gone before me. All of the women who've gone before me.

I have a full stomach, and I'm thankful for that. Thankful for a local family full of friends who invite us for Thanksgiving when we have no other place to go. Thankful for all of the people here who love me with a crazy powerful love. Thankful for getting hugs from their mothers when we leave. Thankful for hugs from mothers.

I'm thankful for my lab mates, for all of the people who know me. Really know me. Thankful for text messages and Facebook messages. Thankful for phone calls and emails. Thankful for laughter and sorrow, and for those who share equal parts in those emotions. Thankful for unending patience. And more patience. And more.

I'm thankful that we'll be able to go home tomorrow to see parents, siblings, cousins, old friends. Thankful for having those people. Thankful for close family. Thankful that I am old enough to know that not all families are close and, then, thankful for knowing I ought to be thankful. Thankful for a boy to warm my feet in bed. Thankful that he's still here after Thanksgiving 2006.

Thankful that I made it out of sickness and into (relative) health. Thankful for a strong mind, for strong quads and strong lungs, a heart that pumps strong despite the murmur found in March. Thankful that I could have, so many times, fallen out or down and didn't. Thankful for titanium rods and mood stabilizers. Thankful for living in a time when my hardest medical problems don't have to kill me.

Thankful for all of the beautiful things in life -- for health and balance, for love and its derangements. Thankful, always, for friends. For family. For good coworkers and people who care.

Despite the fact that I am at work on Thanksgiving night, I don't really mind that much. I have so many things to be thankful for. Who am I to complain?

(Today, at least. Tomorrow, complaining is certainly back on the table. I'm not a saint, after all).