Step 16: Appreciate Your Special People

In honor of the holidays, here are a few reasons I am thankful for the people in my life.

My parents: without them I would be an orphan like Oliver Twist or Leela from Futurama and even though I would probably sing more songs as an orphan and be eligible for much more government money than I am now, I still enjoy having parents because I don't have to eat gruel or work in the coal mines. Dad, thank you for teaching me about the merits of video games and candy and Mom, thank you for teaching me about writing and reading even though it's not as fun as video games and candy.

Ellyn: you always point me in the moral direction; especially when it comes to leach torturing. As kids you taught me responsibility by playing the Abu to my Aladdin or the 7 Dwarves to my Snow White. I now know that would be a lot of work to care for a monkey or seven small men and this knowledge has stopped me from making some stupid decisions.

Mina: You are a bundle of energy which is good because I'm not. I love that you always stand up for what's right. Not a lot of teens do that.


Thank you for supporting me and putting up with those teenage years when I hated everything  and never did my math homework.  I'm a lot less angsty now but I still don't do math, so I guess everyone wins except Mr. Thiner who, despite is best efforts, never managed to teach me algebra.

xoxo Hannah

Step 15: Dream about the Future

Dear Internet,

As you may or may not know, I am graduating college this spring. That's right folks, I am going to be a grown up lady with a big girl job and everything. It's gonna be SWEEEEEEET!

There are a lot of things I am looking forward to in the next year (getting an apartment, buying a kitten without asking my mom and dad first, rolling in piles of my freshly earned money like Scrooge McDuck), but most of all I yearn for the simple pleasures of adult life.

I have a dream. That dream is to have a coffee table with coasters on it. Coasters are the most tranquil objects I can think of because water marks on furniture is the kind of thing that worries people who've run out of important things to worry about. Coasters are for new grads and retirees; carefree people who have nothing to worry about except unplanned pregnancies and death (respectively).

Alas, I still have a semester left before I reach this benchmark of adulthood, but the thought of my coasters keeps my motivation up. After all, if I don't get good grades, how will I get a good job to earn the money to pay for the rent for the apartment with the living room in which to put the table with the coasters on it. Wouldn't happen.

That's why the lesson today is to follow your dreams. Follow them all the way to your own coffee table with coasters on it.

xoxo Hannah