BLOG # 12 AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

T-minus two days to GOBBLE GOBBLE!  

This year, my husband and I are hosting Thanksgiving, which means we’ve spent a fortune at Trader Joe’s, we have a turkey bathing in brine in our teeny fridge and I have to clean the house…  Giving thanks is a lot of work. 

It’s true, isn’t it?  Giving thanks is a lot of work.  It’s so much easier to complain!  (And often funnier.  See Seinfeld.)  We’re champs at seeing what’s missing from our lives, seeing the lack – whether it be time or money or love or a flat screen HDTV (Now you know what to get me for Christmas).

We filmmakers are especially guilty of this. We kvetch that there’s not enough time or money, not enough crew, not enough light…  While I was making the most money I ever made as a screenwriter, I opined the lack of creative control, the lack of respect, the lack of time to focus on my other projects.  

Appreciating the good stuff is just… harder.  For some reason, it takes a concerted effort to see what is right in front of us. 

I love Thanksgiving (minus it’s perverted neighbor Black Friday – sometimes I swear we’re living in some dystopian future out of a Margaret Atwood novel).   But I digress (shocker); in the spirit of the holiday, I’m cultivating an attitude of gratitude, focusing on the abundance instead of the lack.  There’s so much to be thankful for!  (I just burst into Dr. Suess book writing – Eye Book, anyone?  “So many things!  Like rain and pie and airplanes way up in the sky!”)

Beyond the obvious: I have a roof over my head, a devoted husband, a beautiful child, a loving family, and the best friends… I am thanking my lucky stars that Producer Jennifer Westin gave me the chance to make The Lake Effect.  I’m grateful for the cast and crew who gave their talents and tireless efforts to put the story on the screen.  I’m grateful for the family and friends who enabled me (as a new mom) to get the film through post and out to festivals.  I’m grateful for the awesome responses we’ve received from audiences…

The list is endless: I’m not making porno (nothing wrong with porno, just glad I’m not making it), I’m not pregnant (Again, nothing wrong with being pregnant, just not ready for #2 yet.), and you are reading this right now… thanks, you! 

Hope you’re inspired to see the good stuff this Thanksgiving weekend... CHEERS!