I’m thankful for…

A list, in no particular order

• My daughters

• The 75,000 people who signed up to run for office in the last year, reminding me that this work matters and there is so much reason to have hope that the future can be bright even as the present is bleak

• That teacher on TikTok who explains what lingo the kids are using each week

• Podcasts about pop culture like movies, music, TV, and other things I never watch and don’t listen to, because it’s soothing to listen to people have strong opinions on stuff I have no context for and therefore can’t get mad about. (My faves are Jam Session, We’re Obsessed, the Sam Sanders Show, and Every Single Album)

• Every single person who read When We’re in Charge and sent me a note about it, or left a positive review on Goodreads or Amazon, or invited me to your bookclub, or shared it on social media or with a friend.

• Every single person who read When We’re in Charge and hated it — every book sale counts the same!

• That Andrew Cuomo lost two elections in six months

• My physical therapist, who’s trying like hell to get my post-partum back pain under control so I can finally exercise again

• Sadie, our very senior dog, who’s had a rough health year but still manages to prove she’s got that dog in her when she jumps onto the kitchen table to eat the kids’ leftovers

• Relatedly: That my veterinarian’s office is only one block away and that my pet insurance company’s app is very easy to use

• My groupchats

• Books — the hot ones, the serious ones, the ones my friends have written, the ones I couldn’t finish, and even/especially the ones my toddler makes me read to her 100 times a day

• Every person who’s donated to Run for Something, or volunteered for us, or shared some of our content, or partnered with us, or just mentioned to us to a friend who should run for office. And especially the people who work at the organization — the best team in politics.

• The many smart, fascinating new people I met as I forced myself out of my comfort zone and said yes to more events, more travel, and more conferences for the first time in years

• The magical science-backed powers of Zoloft, a new addition to my life after the post-partum anxiety kicked in when the baby started crawling

• Our chaotic apartment filled with toys and snacks that has hosted people nearly every weekend in 2025

• Our cleaning lady — the second best money I spend every month (shout out to Si Se Puede Co-op if you’re in NYC and need cleansers!)

• The women who work at daycare — the first best money I spend every month, and if there was any justice in the world, they’d be billionaires

• Bill de Blasio — even if he’s kind of a schmuck, free 3K is legit transformative

• Poshmark, resell groups, neighborhood buy-nothings, and that I can schedule a pick-up for items to donate within 24 hours.

• Little treat culture!

• That 2025 was the year our theory of politics has been proven right

• The influencers who are teaching me how to finally use a curling iron, put on makeup, and create content myself at the ripe old age of 35

• Freeing myself of needing to participate in online fights when actually, when I think about it, I don’t really care — in 2025, deleting posts is totally fine.

• The public library, the children’s museum, the synagogue, the four playgrounds, and everywhere else that we take our kids within a 30 minute walk that costs me nothing and saves my sanity by getting us out of the house

• The pure delight of our neighborhood specifically, Brooklyn more broadly, and NYC as a whole, especially this year — no where has ever felt so much like home

• The ability to set my X notifications so tight that I see basically nothing anyone ever says to me. It’s none of my business!

• These emojis: 😈 🫠 👀 🙊

• My husband. The only reason I get to do anything and everything I could ever dream of and for sure the only reason anyone in my house eats a real meal. The only person I’d ever be delighted to have by my side as we stand outside the Bass Pro Shop in Bridgeport, CT, one of us holding a soaking wet child and the other gingerly carrying a child covered in vomit, eagerly awaiting for the doors to open in 15 minutes so we can buy them new clothes, ideally ones that don’t say “baby’s first hunt” but beggars can’t be choosers.

• My toddler’s pink shirt with a horse on it and the baby’s “of all the fish in the sea, my mama chose me” onesie, from the aforementioned Bass Pro Shop

• The nearly 4,800 of you who get this email and read it, reply to it, leave comments, and share it. Especially those of you who pay for it even when you don’t have to. How lucky I am to have an outlet for writing and to be accountable to you all, stretching my creativity and skills each week.

Thanks. ❤️

Pick up a copy in When We’re in Charge in any format you’d like — hardcover, e-book, or audio book (narrated by yours truly) anywhere you get books, including Amazon or Bookshop.org or literally anywhere else. If you have Spotify Premium, you can listen to for free right this very minute.

Another option: Get your book along with an excellent I DO NOT DREAM OF LABOR tote bag at the Crooked Media shop.