~Friday~ On Facebook, for the month of November, I participated in the "Gratitude Marathon," which consisted of professing some form of gratitude, once a day, for each day of the entire month of November.
I've captured them here for those of you who aren't on Facebook (or aren't my friend there), and for my own record.
Nov 1: Today I'm grateful for my intellect, which I value so much. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov 2: Today I'm grateful for the people near and dear to me in my life, and that there is a healthy number of them from many walks of life. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov 3: Today I'm grateful for all of the actors, directors, producers, board of directors and everyone else that has been involved with the countless hours of exceedingly fine and thought-provoking entertainment I've enjoyed in my life from Manbites Dog Theater over the years. #GratitudeMarathon — at Manbites Dog Theater.
Nov 4: Today I'm grateful for almost always being able to fall asleep within 5 minutes, for regularly being able to remember my dreams, and for usually being able to purposefully wake myself up amidst a nightmare. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov 5: Today I’m grateful for knowing how to use both Windows and Mac computers — and what seems like a similar thing to me, knowing my way around both downtown Raleigh and downtown Durham. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov 6: Today I'm grateful for having the privilege to vote in this country, and I've exercised that privilege in every presidential election since I've been eligible to do it. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov 7: Today I'm grateful to be living as my authentic self. There was a significant part of my life during which I thought I might spend my entire time here not being the person I really was. What a prison sentence that would have been. Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, I'm free at last. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov 8: Today I'm grateful for doing work I love and working with people who are engaging, smart, and fun. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov 9: Today I'm thankful for the men of Movember — both for their hirsuteness and for their generous character. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov. 10: Today, on the birthday of the United States Marine Corps, I'm grateful for growing up as a "military brat" — during which time I learned: 1) to meet new people more easily than I might otherwise have, 2) to become friends with people who didn't look like me, and 3) the true value a friendship can be by having to say goodbye to it more often than not. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov. 11: Today, I'm grateful for my Dad's 30-year service to our country, which included 3 one-year deployments during the Vietnam War and a Purple Heart, and for everyone who has served in our armed services in any capacity over the years. THANK YOU. I'm also grateful — albeit very conflicted about being so — that when I was of age, registering for the draft was not required. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov 12: I'm thankful for this date, because it's the day my sister came into this world. She's as much like me as she is different. She's smart in ways that I'm not, and funny in ways that I love. She's stronger than she realizes — I should know, I've seen her in action. She's perfect even when she's focused on the things she wants to change about herself. And, yes, she's one of my favorite people in the whole world. I'm grateful to have spent our time here along side each other. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov 13: Today I'm grateful for my command of, appreciation for, and playfulness with, the written word. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov 14: Today I'm grateful for hearing from an IBM employee in Germany to thank me for, and to tell me that he's using, a diversity poster — about the cost to a company of an employee being in the closet — that I created many years ago. Cool. #GratitudeMarathon http://www.nematome.info/Will&Ned%20PosterPaths.pdf
Nov 15: Today I'm grateful for owning a home to shelter me from the cold and warm my heart within. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov 16: Today, I'm grateful for unsolicited, daily affirmations that remind me of the incredible people who surround me in my life. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov 17: Today I'm grateful for the Master's in Tech Comm students at NC State and their advisor, Sarah Egan Warren, for their initiative, enthusiasm, and follow-through in putting on today's awesome SpeedCon 2012 free conference, and for the people of intellectual curiosity and interest in all things communication for their attendance and engagement today. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov 18: Today I’m grateful for the members of my Mostly Social Book Club, with whom I’m currently meeting, and with whom I’ve been meeting for 20 years. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov 19: Today I'm grateful for a colleague who took the time to thank me for suggesting Love Wins Ministries as one of our organization's holiday giving recipients again this year and for leading the project. #GratitudeMarathon http://oit.ncsu.edu/staff-relations/love-wins-ministries-2012
Nov 20: Today, I'm grateful for being a non-smoker. With my addictive personality, I'm quite sure I'd be a two-pack-a-day-start-at-8-in-the-morning kind of smoker if I was one. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov 21: Today, I'm grateful for my friend Rebecca–whose departure to Africa is imminent, and where many people over the next month or so are going to be in the wonder of her presence, and then regret to see her go when that time comes. I'm also grateful for her affirmation here this morning on one of my recent updates: "You are one fabulous man, John Martin, and I love ALL the ways you are 'committed' … in health, self expression and uplifting others and this world with your 'great-full' heart! Love your good parents for bringing you here! I'd like more time to play with you before this ride is done." #GratitudeMarathon
Nov 22: Today, I'm grateful family, family friends, and friends who have become family. And for my sister for her long hours yesterday and today making all the food JUST SO, her husband for his work in getting the house ready for 8 guests, and to both of them for opening up their home to nourish all of us today. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov 23: Today, I'm professing a retroactive gratefulness. I'm grateful for the many, many years I lived without chronic pain, but was not grateful for it while it was so. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov 24: As a follow-up to yesterday's gratitude entry, today I'm grateful for a full 30 minutes on the treadmill with no pain in my left knee. I'm not sure that's ever happened since my surgery in March. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov 25: On Sunday, I was grateful to the owner of The Borough for comping one of my drinks "just because" (of the inordinate amount of money I've spent in her establishment). I was also grateful for the (good) pain in my arms confirming that the upper body work I did on Saturday was fruitful. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov. 26: This morning, as I enjoy my egg and cheese on a bolo levedo for breakfast, I'm grateful for my Portuguese heritage and its foods. #GratitudeMarathon http://www.famousfoods.com/bolepomu.html
Nov. 27: Today I'm thankful for working at a university where I can use a "tuition waiver" once per semester to take a university course for free. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov. 28: Today I'm thankful for the little things, as someday, they may become the big things. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov. 29: Today, I'm not only thankful that it's the penultimate day of November, but I'm also thankful that I know the word penultimate and I've had a chance to use it in a sentence. Twice. #GratitudeMarathon
Nov. 30: Today, I'm grateful that the month of November only has 30 days. #GratitudeMarathon #Complete