I have been doing some thinking recently and come up with

Things I am grateful for:

Parents who are reasonable, supportive, autonomous, and unconditionally loving.

Parents who set good examples and taught me to take responsibility.

Parents who know how and when to set and relax boundaries.

Parents who stayed together.

A sister who loves me in spite of herself. Or myself. Or both.

An appreciation of vegetables, and an ability to cook them to my own satisfaction.

The ability to type—fast.

Lifelong friends.

Parents of friends who have turned into equally valued friends.

Books that can make me laugh. (Thank you David Sedaris.)

Google.

Cadbury chocolate.

Learning to swim at a young age.

The US Postal Service.

Opportunities to travel.

Things I regret

Never learning a second (or third or fourth) language.

Not learning Photoshop in high school, when I had the chance.

Never swallowing my pride and asking out any guy I liked.

Never shaving my head when it wouldn’t have mattered.

Not being able to cook instinctively, like my grandmother.

Taking up the flute instead of the oboe.

Allowing the world’s technology to creep past me and leave me in its wake.

Not getting insurance on my cell phone.

Not having had all of my health issues cleaned up the thousands of times I went to the doctor’s when I was still covered by my parents’ health insurance.