Not long after I lost my mother in my early 20s, a grief counselor told me to write three things I was thankful or grateful for every day. At first, it felt impossible to find three things in the sea of grief and loss, but my life began to change when I started to really recognize and experience gratitude every day — both the big and small things — even when it’s hard to do so. You’ll see life differently when that happens.

As we inch closer to Thanksgiving, a time when we celebrate family, friends and all the things we are thankful for, I’d love for us to celebrate what and who we’re grateful for. Please make it a six-word story, a personal short story, with a beginning, middle and end.

Make us laugh or cry or at the least feel something. For example, here is the famous story attributed to, but not proven to be written by, Ernest Hemingway: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” That’s quite the story! Need more examples? “It can’t be. I’m a virgin,” writes Kate Atkinson. “Set sail, great storm, all lost,” says John Banville.

If you want your story to run in the IJ, please:

• Write “Six-word story” in the subject line

• Send one six-word story. Just one

• Include your full name and Marin town in the body of the email, no attachments

• Write your short story in the body of the email, no attachments

• Use proper punctuation and spelling

• Use sentence style in one line

• Do not submit six adjectives — that’s not a story

Please send to lifestyles@marinij.com by Nov. 14 and look for it in the Nov. 25 lifestyles section and online.