...In which our heroine is thankful.

Yeah, it's not Thanksgiving yet, but Emily's post got me thinking about how genuinely lucky I am, this year more than ever.

Living in Chicago and attending Columbia has been an absolute dream come true for me so far. I'm doing what I want to be, have met the people that are best for me, and gotten to do things that are beyond awesome. And it just keeps getting better. I feel so privleged that my family had enough faith in me (and that IB prepared me well enough) that college so far has felt less like work and more like pure bliss.

As of late, my bliss has been amplified. I let Ben switch my claddagh ring from avaliable to taken Saturday night. We aren't official yet--things are still very new, but we're headed in that direction. He's the boy I waited for all through high school. We're so similar it is scary, but I don't want to jinx anything since it is still in the early stages.

I take the bus home Wednesday night with Emily and get to see lots of family. Thanksgiving is a big deal for us and I'm excited to eat greasy southern food, sitting on the floor of my grandma's house, laughing about stories from when I was a 'lil one. I get to see Cassie, and all those fine upstanding citizens I spent high school with.

I am so, so lucky, I feel somedays like I'm going to wake up from this life and its all going to be a dream. Some days I feel like I don't deserve all this--all these wonderful people who I care about and who care about me. And for that very reason, I am thankful.