Despite 12 years of terrible grades, due to an education system that simply didn't fit, which pretty much banned me from engineering or computer science in university, I still managed to find a different route into software engineering. I love it. It challenges me every day. It is exciting and engaging and fun. I've found self-drive and motivation without the need for medication anymore. And because of it my family gets to grow up in a household where there's never any fights about money, something that was all too present when I was a kid.

I'm thankful for finding our first and hopefully last home this year. It's amazing how different it feels to have a stake in the ground. Everything feels worth doing properly, spending a little extra on, taking care of.

I'm thankful for my family's good health. Part of that is thankfulness for living in a part of the world where my employment isn't tied to our health. I feel so lucky that I'm in charge of my future and don't feel in any way controlled by, "but I can't quit, I need health insurance/mortgage payment/ etc." It's a liberating feeling to be able to walk away at any minute if I really needed to. When my mom got sick my dad instantly retired and they spent the twilight of her life travelling the world. What an amazing gift.