A Definitive List Of All The Things I’m Thankful For In Life

Dear life,

Thank you for stars and birthday candles

and their inability to make wishes come true.

Thank you for disease and miracles

and hope for finding a cure.

Thank you for scars

and the stories that come with them.

Thank you for fireflies

and their ability to light the way,

highlighting summers of an all-American childhood

and teaching us to chase after what we want most.

Thank you for the “friends” who stab us in the back,

teaching us that the only one we can ever really trust

is ourselves.

Thank you for the failures

that make us appreciate our accomplishments.

Thank you for bubbles

and the way that they remind us of the fragility of the universe —

how everything can be gone in an instant.

Thank you for the supporters

as much as the nonbelievers

who gave us something to prove.

Thank you for the followers

who gave us the chance to lead.

Thank you for society’s twisted ways

giving us expectations to shatter.

Thank you for white butterflies —

their wings absent of color,

reminding us to appreciate the pureness in simplicity.

Thank you for the crazy teachers

and their accidentally inspirational ways.

Thank you for the humbleness that comes with the absence of money.

Thank you for the people who give us reasons to smile

on bad days.

Thank you for the contradictions that enhance the truth.

Thank you for ripped seams

reminding us that there are some things that just cannot be contained.

Thank you for false hope

and staircases that lead to nowhere

reminding us that sometimes,

the climb is the only thing that matters.

Thank you for Hello Kitty Band-aids

and their ability to heal

even the deepest wounds.

Thank you for blue slurpees

and the way that they stain our lips and teeth,

revealing our weakness in the face of temptation.

Thank you for innocence

and the truth that shatters it.

Thank you for sunset,

reminding us that sometimes

endings are the most beautiful part.

Dear life,

Thank you for everything,

and all of the lessons that come along the way.