Kimberly Brown
Thanksgiving is our national day to be thankful, and I am thankful for so many things. For my family and friends, of course, and the love and support they’ve given me through difficult times. But there are many little, day-to-day things I appreciate. Here are a few:
• Modern dentistry. As I write this, I just returned home from my first-ever root canal. While it was not the most fun I’ve ever had, it wasn’t as nightmarish as I thought it would be. I definitely can say that I’m thankful for whatever was in those three shots that made half my face numb, because there was a lot of drilling and scraping going on.
• My GPS. Every time I head out somewhere, I’m thankful for the GPS in my phone. I have what I call “direction dyslexia,” which is simply a really bad sense of direction. If I have to choose to turn left or right, I’ll almost always choose the wrong way. It seems to be a family trait, because my sisters and parents all have it to varying degrees. With my trusty GPS, I can go just about anywhere without getting lost. Or at least if I do get turned around, the GPS helps me correct my route pretty quickly. It has even helped me navigate around a foreign city, when we went to Vancouver, Canada earlier this year.
• The internet. I remember very well the days before the internet, and even though it can be a dark place if you seek out darkness, it can also be a place that keeps you up with the news, and with friends and family who live far away. Not to mention online shopping, which is infinitely helpful if you live in the boondocks. The internet has a lot of flaws, but it also has a lot of good.
• Leaves. This year, the leaf color here in the Northeast Georgia mountains seemed to be better than it’s been for several years. Now that they’re all brown and mostly off the trees, blowing them off my driveway and porch has given me a reason to get outside in the fresh air. And I have to blow them every single day, so I get lots of fresh air.
• My pets. I have four cats and a dog, who keep us endlessly entertained. I also have some number of fish and hermit crabs. Since we brought four platy fish home over a year ago, their numbers have changed.
Though the pet store salesperson assured us that they were all female, they began having babies, and at one time we had at least 12. They die off, but also continue to make more, so there’s no telling how many are in the tank now.
At one time I had seven hermit crabs, but they bury themselves in their substrate to molt.
Right now, I only see five of them, so the others are either molting or they’ve buried themselves and gone over the “rainbow bridge,” if such a thing exists for crabs. At least they don’t multiply like the fish do.
• And finally, I’m thankful for where I live. This is a beautiful place, with its mountains, hiking trails, lakes and rivers. Even when the trees are bare and the skies are gray, I’m happy to be a resident of Northeast Georgia.
Kimberly Brown is a staff writer for The Northeast Georgian. Reach her at kbrown@TheNortheastGeorgian.com.