The Thanksgiving Edition

Hello everyone! Since Thanksgiving is just days away, we here at VSA Texas want to share a few things we are thankful for this holiday season.

April Sullivan:

• I am thankful for my fun job at VSA Texas, where I get a chance to spend time with creative thinkers and get paid for it at the same time.
• I am thankful for all of the people who have shared their love and kind words with me as I go through a hard time this year.
• I am thankful for my cozy home.

Me and my friends at KOOP radio

Eric Clow:

• I am thankful for music. Nothing is more boundless, beautiful, and therapeutic. I am grateful to play it and grateful to listen to it. I am the best version of myself when I am surrounded by it.
• I am thankful for Big Bunny. She loves me, laughs at my stupid jokes, encourages me to pursue my biggest dreams. I am thankful for her ageless smile, her brown eyes, our silly arguments that end in laughter, and every ounce of creativity we share.
• I am thankful for every family I have been a part of. This includes all of my blood relatives (the Parkers, the Clows, the Claytons, and the Garards) and the families I have found, including Wolf House Co-op, where I found the love and support I needed to succeed in college, Dude Choir, where I found my musical voice, and of course, my most recent family, VSA Texas, where I serve the creative pursuits of other artists with disabilities, which in turn bolsters my own creativity. And how could I forget my amazing co-workers? They make this project coordinator and self-appointed blog manager a very happy worker bee.

Big Bunny and me. No, that is not our house
in the background.

Nicole Cortichiato:

• I am thankful for fresh cranberry sauce, not the canned kind.
• I am thankful for the tiny people that live in my ears.
• I am thankful for the people that love me when I'm a boo boo head (see below).

Love me. I'm a boo boo head.

Lynn Johnson:

In order for me to say what I am thankful for, I have to go back to the first stages of my life, which explains why I have so many things, too numerous to list. Without growing up in a loving, thoughtful, laughter-filled household, filled with love and not hate towards other races, I would not have had the mettle to have acquired a safe place to live, freedom of religion and speech, friendships that have endured, ways to support myself, food and clothing, and a sense of adventure and tolerance. I have been thankful for the storms in my life, for I would not have recognized those rainbow moments otherwise. So grateful for all the choices offered me, not grateful for the ones that were disastrous but still had the alacrity to pedal to safety. Thankful that I get to participate in writing a blog with my coworkers and friends who I actually enjoy seeing everyday in a wonderful place I call a happy place, not a workplace.

Me at Machu Picchu

Celia Hughes:

• I am thankful for education, because without it the world would be a very dark place. The more we can educate people, the better they are able to care for themselves and others. We don’t all have to have a Ph.D., but the ability to read and write and cipher a few numbers opens up the world.
• I am also thankful for friends and family, because they lift up my spirits and keep me honest with myself. I would not be able to do the work that I do without their love and support.
• I am thankful for the staff and board members of VSA Texas. You are a hard-working, dedicated group of people and I am honored to call you my friends.

Me with my winning Easter bonnet

What are you thankful for? Tell us in the comments!

Also, if you're shopping on Amazon this Black Friday or any time for that matter, don't forget to support VSA Texas using Amazon Smile. Just click here: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/74-2863338