Happy Thanksgiving (week. . .for Canadians. . .I got lazy)

So thanksgiving was last week up in here in the great country of Canada. And I've been holding on to this blog ever since then. Not because I didn't have anything to be thankful for. I just wanted to make sure I said the words I wanted to say. Being vocally or publicly grateful is something I never was good at. I appreciated things and all that jazz but I always just said thanks. I didn't just want to do that here. I wanted to say something important and why I am so thankful for the below.

So let's do this!

1. God. He can move mountains, tear down walls, and protects all of us from evil. He's such a busy dude/dudette/entity, watching over the world, and yet he somehow has time to bless me with these amazing gifts, like friends and family who love me, people who care about me, and a life I can be proud of. I am so grateful for each and everyone of his blessings.
2. Mom and Dad. They worked so hard to get the old house sold and to help me into my new house. With all this change, they still remain the fun loving, caring parents that I've always known. I'm so thankful for their hard work and effort. Not just keeping my place in order, but also for the effort they have given in understanding and getting closer to me in the last year.
3. My bro and sis. In a time of crisis and confusion, they stood tall for me and always reached out a hand to lift me up. They tried to protect me, make sure I made the right decisions, and I am so grateful that they were around. It's so good knowing that I have such strong pillars to lean on when I'm in trouble. It's so good knowing I can trust and rely on them.
4. Neo. The only pet I ever had, maybe ever will. I am so grateful for that dog. He always made me smile when I saw him, even near the end of his days. I will always remember the dog that ran into my room, jumped on my bed, and licked me until I woke up and scared him off. But not before he would looked back me, almost to say 'I got ya. I got ya good' and then leave me a stinky present in my room. Run and poop free boy. Run and poop free.
5. Olivia & Ryan; Jacob & Maya. 4 of the cutest, funniest, exciting, wreckless, goofy, happiest, smartest, good looking, craziest, nicest, greatest, and amazing kids I have ever known. I am so grateful that I can go to any of them, and know that within seconds, I'll forget whatever bad day I was having. They make me remember how happy life is, if you just put everything into perspective.
6. Aurora, Madi, Michelle, Natalie, and Justin. I have found one of the best starbucks around. It's on the corner of Howe and Robson, and has five of the greatest barista I have ever known (Update: Now only 2. Three of the above have left). I am so grateful for their friendliness, laughter, and willingness to give me free coffee every oncer in a while. It always be one of my favorite places to go.
7. Russ and Anna. I am so grateful to these two. They are a constant reminder to me that love still happens. It still a strong force that can't be denied. But they remind me that it takes work and effort and compromise and giving and taking and doing and forgiving and a bunch of other verbs I can't type right now. But when you find the right person, it doesn't take much for you to do it. I hope one day I can have a relationship half as good as theirs.
8. Steve, Maria and Mike, Jill, Original Michelle, Rene, Derek, Rosey, Bal, Marky, Soon and Jabeen. Good friends are hard to find. But God has decided I need about 10 of them to keep me from breaking apart. So I am so thankful to call these people my friends. From the gifts and the help when I'm in over my head, to simply just calling me to hang out, and being there to make me smile. I don't know what I did to earn friends like these, but I'm glad I have them.

7. Darren, Lily, Jozz, Derrick, Ciony, Shalesh, Nola and Tess. Work can be the hardest thing to wake up for. It can be the biggest stress in your life. So thank God I have people like the ones above to keep me smiling, and laughing and to make coming to work worthwhile. I am so grateful for these people. They make me wanna work hard, and help whenever I can (even sometimes when I can't), and stay late if they need me. Hell, I often think they are the reason I would work for. . .I won't say it cause I like being paid. But you get the idea. Again, I don't know what the hell I did to have such amazing people in my life, but I am so grateful they are there.
8. Selena and Andrew. Two of my closest friends who also live so far away from me. I still can't believe they remembered me. I'm a very easy to forget person, but they still keep in touch, making me smile with there LMAOs and LOLs and HAHAs. I miss them, but I know I don't miss as much as I do others. Cause they are still a part of my life, and I am so grateful for them for putting in that effort. It means so much to me, I don't think they will ever know.
9. My book. Cause I just didn't want to talk about people that I know, I thought I would mention this. Many a childhood dream have died before my feet, never to be seen again or accomplished. But I am so grateful that time and effort was spent on making this one come true. I am so close to making it a reality. A few more chapters to edit and it's ready for a professional to read and break apart with his or her red pen. . .but then I can say 'Screw you! I'm keeping true to myself! I'm keeping all those 'Justin Bieber needs a kick to face' jokes in and it's gonna sell millions!!!!
   For the record, No Justin Biebers were hurt doing the production of my novel. . .
   Yet

So there it is. Took me a good half an hour to write. Hope you enjoy and sorry it took so long to post.

Just a quick story I wanna share. I guess one more thing I'm grateful for. When I was in grade 1 (So what 6, 7, 8 years old), I came home from a particular great day from school. I made everyone laugh and smile and did good things, and even made my teacher laugh so hard, she almost spilled her water. So I thought to myself, in that childhood way, maybe that's why I'm here on Earth. Maybe I'm here to make people smile, whether be through jokes, or laughter, or good deeds or just acting stupid. Maybe that's my purpose in life. Why God put me on this Earth? And to this day, I have never found a better purpose in life.

Peace out, love ya, and don't stop (pause) believing (awesome guitar solo engaged)

BJB