And Thanks for the Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding*

A little late in the day, but then again it's never too late to give thanks, is it?

Thanks to my mom, my brother, and my stepdad for making it in this week so we can spend Thanksgiving as a family. I know I must drive you all crazy, but remember: I kvetch because I love.

Thanks to The Boy for being the world's greatest kid.

Thanks to my husband, Jim, for being not only a wonderful husband, but for staying true to himself, always being my moral compass (actually, him and Mom), and for always doing the right thing, even when he's feeling a little crabby. There's a reason some of my friends back in Texas, when pondering a difficult choice, would say: WWJD?--What Would Jim Do?

Thanks to my colleagues at work. You're a good bunch of people.

Thanks to my friends (at work and beyond). You're an even greater bunch.

Thanks to my doctors at Mass General. I'm feeling pretty good now, thanks in large part to you guys (and some luck--health still involves a little luck).

Thanks to other bloggers--locally, nationally, and internationally--for giving me a chance to learn, laugh, get annoyed, and celebrate life and its vagaries along with you.

Thanks to the Mass. Supreme Court and so many of the people of this commonwealth for supporting equal marriage rights. And thanks to the folks at Mass Equality and other like-minded organizations for hanging in there, yet remaining unfailingly polite even in the face of the occasional idiot. And thanks to the people, legislators included, who took the time to change their minds and see the light.

Thanks to New England in general, which has turned out to be a great and interesting place to live in general. Thanks for the little kindnesses, good iced coffee, fine roast beef sandwiches, rocky beaches, fried clams (but not just the fried clams), good schools, the T, and too many other things to enumerate.

Four years and counting--only a year to go on the Subaru payments. Thanks for everything.

*And thanks to the staff of the Cafe Fleuri at the Hotel Langham Boston for a fine, fine Thanksgiving meal, which made my family and friends very happy and very stuffed.