Authors find things to be thankful for

With the coronavirus surging and families, including my own, not seeing some loved ones in person at Thanksgiving, it’s hard not to feel melancholy and nostalgic right now.

It’s been said that gratitude is a practice, and the world has been tested this year. I read about one study in which participants wrote three letters of gratitude over a threeweek period. Writing such letters increased happiness and satisfaction and decreased symptoms of depression. In that spirit, I asked several Bay Area writers to reflect upon what they’re most grateful for amid the difficulties of this year.

For Stephanie M. Wildman, her daily yoga practice allows her to breathe into moments of grace every day. She cherishes going out into the predawn light to pick up her copy of The Chronicle.

“I take that moment to feel the air on my skin, appreciate if I am able to breathe deeply without smoke in the air, look for whether the moon is visible or if the fog has crept in,” said Wildman, author of two forthcoming books, “Privilege Revealed: How Invisible Preference Undermines America” and “Brave in the Water.” “It’s a peaceful interlude, feeling the quiet pulsing of the sleeping block and surrounding city. Sometimes I hear the 1California rumble up to the corner bus stop, heading downtown or toward its last stop at 33rd and Geary. I miss that bus I used to take. But I’m grateful for the drivers who keep it running for those not able to shelter in place.”

Shelterinplace loomed heavy on the minds of writer Dominic Lim and his partner, Peter. By July, they had grown tired of working from the kitchen table of their onebedroom condo in West Oakland.

“On a whim, we booked a lastminute tour of a twobedroom house in the Chabot Park neighborhood. We fell in love with the open floor plan, brick fireplace and expansive hilltop view of Oakland and San Francisco — then were told offers were only being accepted for another five hours. We said, ‘why the hell not?’ and put in a bid that same afternoon,” said Lim, who is working on his first novel, “Special Guest Appearance by (the Great) Emmett Aoki.”

He credits their real estate agent for coming up with the right offer.

“Though the pandemic has otherwise been a nightmare, we wouldn’t have found our dream home without the need to find better workfrom home office space and historically low interest rates,” Lim said.

At the end of October, author and filmmaker Kevin Smokler and his wife celebrated their 11th anniversary, which apparently calls for “steel” gifts. “We don’t live in ‘steel’ times, but a pandemicinspired mode built from patience, resourcefulness and the deft sidestep after careful planning,” said Smokler, who codirected and coproduced “Vinyl Nation.”

“Perhaps every COVID anniversary should just be called ‘the PlayDoh

anniversary’ where we twist, mold and pick up imprints of what we still have,” he added. “I do not wish ‘now’ upon anyone. My days in the midst of it are long strings of fragile moments where I am reminded that what and who I chose has readied me for ‘now’ and, eventually, the ‘afternow’ breaking.”

As for me, I’m grateful for readers like you. Your notes of encouragement lift me up every week, and I cherish the relationship that we’ve forged over your kitchen table, or wherever you might be paging through the newspaper or scrolling on your device.

Your poetry about the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement inspired me. As 2020 draws to a close, I’d love to read your poems on moments of grace and gratitude — think of it as a letter of gratitude — that I hope to share in a future column.

“I miss that bus I used to take. But I’m grateful for the drivers who keep it running.” Stephanie M. Wildman

Vanessa Hua is the author of “A River of Stars.” Her column appears Fridays in Datebook. Email: datebook@ sfchronicle.com