Thanks

Normally this time of the year, I spend a lot of time being thankful for my family, my friends, the successes I’ve had, and the fact that I’m not out on the street yet.

I’m still thankful for all of those things. This year, though, I’d like to give thanks to something else.

The Universe.

I've never been a particularly religious person, but I do believe there's something. Call it God, Allah, the Universe - whatever you'd like. Too many amazing, unexplained things happen for there not to be something higher than us.

Anyway, I'm thankful, because the real miracle is that despite all the odds stacked against it, all the ways the Universe could have gone, all the crazy, irregular and highly unlikely conditions that happen to come together here on this big rock in space... we exist.

What's more, we exist in a truly magical time. We can get in our cars and drive to places that took earlier people days to reach. We can fly to almost any point on the planet we'd like to visit. We have a wealth of knowledge and information at our fingertips, no further than the closest Internet connection.

Most of all, we are alive. And it's amazing to be alive.

I'm thankful for that.