1. The wonders that were Robin Williams, Maya Angelou, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

2. An American Thanksgiving family reunion with loved ones from near and far.

3. My firstborn’s continued excellent adventures at college.

4. My second born’s culinary skills.

5. My spouse’s humour and compassion.

6. My amazing parents whose continuing generosity changes lives every day.

7. Interesting, generous, loving friends, old and new, near and far.

8. Advances in medicine because of which loved ones are still with us.

9. The opportunity to write and read every single day.

10. Living at this moment in time (if I lived in the Middle Ages I’d likely be crippled by disease—if I hadn’t already been burned at the stakes).