Giving Thanks

Thanks to the gift of leftovers, we’re on our third day of my mother-in-law’s turkey and stuffing, which is a wonderful thing but seems to have settled me into a permanent turkey coma. I must free myself somehow by Monday. But, hey, that’s far, far in the future! For now, I’ll enjoy perpetual sleepiness and let all of you who just met me find out how sappy I get around this time of year. It’s a thing.

I said earlier this week that I’d leave “major items” for thanking later in the week, and later in the week has more than arrived! Actually, most of my “major items” are personal (family, friends, etc.) and this isn’t really the place for that. What remains though is still pretty major, at least to me.

Last year, I was thankful for having been introduced to manga. This year, I’m thankful for what manga has introduced to me. I’ve only been writing in this particular blog for a little over a year, and it’s only been my primary blog for maybe half that time. I really never thought I would feel part of a community outside of LiveJournal, but it turns out I was wrong about that. The online manga community is warm, friendly, and full of fantastic people who I’ve been overjoyed to become acquainted with. I’ve only met a couple of you in person, but I hope that will change over the next few years, as I make a serious effort to exchange my “shy loner” persona at conventions and such for something a little more outgoing. :)

I started to single some of you out for particular thanks, but it got really flowery and ridiculous, and even I found it embarrassing to read. Suffice it to say, if you’re reading this and we’ve interacted more than a few times online or in person, you were probably on the list, and I think you’re awesome. It might seem ridiculous that I’m getting so sappy over this, but I’m being quite honest when I say that manga changed my life, and the community I’ve discovered through manga is a big part of that. This year has been the most challenging I’ve faced in my life so far on just about every front, and nearly as great as manga itself, my interactions with people through this blog have played no small part in helping me through it. I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to have met you all. I’m thankful for your friendliness, your generosity, your humor, your fabulous recommendations, your patience with my silly (if heartfelt) rambling on subjects you know much more about that I do, and also just for the chance to get to know you all a bit.

Thanks to you all, and Happy Thanksgiving!