I am thankful for so many things. It's so easy to take them for granted, especially these days when it can seem like there's so much to fear, so much that needs fixing, so much tragedy in the world. And most of my day is spent focusing on what's next to be done, what problem needs to be solved, what challenge I want to undertake. So, at the risk of sounding self-indulgent, here I remind myself of the good things for which I can be thankful.

I am thankful to be alive and in reasonably good health. I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for my friends.

I am thankful to be living in a country where we can still enjoy the freedoms we have. I am thankful for the education I received. I am thankful for my upbringing. I am thankful that we haven't destroyed the world yet. I am thankful that most of us want to make the world a better place. I am thankful to be living in a time when we all have so much potential to effect so much change for the better.

And, being a geek, I am thankful for computers for they are changing everything. I am thankful for the internet and how it is helping us all connect in ways that were impossible before. I am thankful for net neutrality, such as it is these days.

I am thankful to be alive and involved in such an incredibly interesting field of interactive design and development, with so many untested frontiers, so few written rules, so much potential to change so many things for the better. I am thankful that I can make a living as a geek. I'm thankful for being able to do the work I do. I am thankful for the really great people I work with.

I am thankful for open source. I'm thankful that I've been able to make a living working in open source. I am thankful for the good fortune of having found Drupal. I am thankful for the amazing Drupal community. I am thankful that, years ago, Dries Buytaert saw fit to open source Drupal.

I am thankful for the hope -- the hope -- that we might be able to enjoy the benefits of open source voting.

I am thankful for One Laptop per Child and other initiatives like it.

I am thankful for astonishing medical advances we're seeing these days.

I am thankful for not living under the Communist boot. (Ahem.)

I am thankful for bloggers who make me laugh or cry out in rage or both.

I am thankful for coffee and tea and bagels, and wine and cheese and avacados. I am thankful for sushi. I am thankful for hot water from the tap. I am thankful for my kitty, who comforts me when I'm over-stressed.

I am thankful to be able to write this here.

I am thankful for how truly lucky I've been. Luck is a lot of it. I feel blessed. I am thankful for all these things, and so many more, that help make being alive now a pretty great thing.

Thank you.

Laura Scott blogs at rare pattern and pingVision.