My dad is a big Outlaw country guy - Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton, Waylon, Willie. He loves Elvis and turned me onto Elvis. He was always playing me stuff. He and I would sing and entertain the family. We'd have a little skit on Thanksgiving or whatever.

I miss both of my parents terribly every day, but especially as we approach Thanksgiving. We always came together as a family for that holiday, playing capture the flag and touch football and laughing a lot.

I was a big fan of Grant Fuhr. I was a big Oilers fan growing up. I started out playing goal, but there wasn't enough action. So I decided to play out, and I'm thankful, 'cause goalie is a tough position.

I saw 14 games in two and a half months at Churchill. It was what I really signed for. They were eyeing the championship and also playing the AFC Cup. So I am very thankful for Churchill, the coaching staff and the players.

I really loved all my time at this university and so I hope it's seen how much I appreciate Duke. Not only playing basketball for Duke, but being a student at Duke, and I really am thankful for my time here.

I was actually going to go to a conservatory after I graduated college, now I'm thankful that Pentatonix happened because I'm working with singers in this realm of mainstream music, and to learn about how all that comes together has really helped my cello playing.

I don't care what position I'm at. I'm on the floor, I'm playing, I'm thankful for that, so whatever coach tells me to do, I'm going to do.

I was always thankful for the YMCA. Of course, growing up, you don't really think about it, because when you're a kid, you're in your own world. But back then, it was just so much. I'm going to go the Y, hanging out, playing games all day, playing basketball.

I'm very fortunate to be playing, and I know that any given day could be the last. And I'll be thankful for the time I have had to play this game. But I'm going to give my all every single day.

It was a free-for-all with music when I was growing up. My mother was a huge music fanatic so I was listening to everything from country to heavy metal to Indigo Girls to Elton John. I guess when I was really young I didn't like Willie Nelson, and she obviously loved him. Now I do too, I'm so thankful to her for playing his music nonstop.

Everyone wants to dream about playing on Sundays, but does everyone want to work to get there? And once you get there, are you thankful, or are you just happy to be there? What's your next step? What's your next plan? Me? I want to be great.

I am very, very proud I am also Turkish and both of my parents are from Turkey. I was born in Germany and grew up there. By playing football, I learned my different cultures, and that is an advantage if you grow up as a person. You get a different view on certain things. I am very, very thankful I was able to pick the best from many cultures.

Playing so many important games in a prestigious competition like the Champions League, I have experience to call upon, and I'm thankful for that. I hope the other players can feel more confident because of that.

With millions of family wage manufacturing jobs lost since 2001, we need an energy bill that takes bold action to tap into American ingenuity in order to lead the world in new clean energy technology, rather than playing catch-up to the Japanese, Danish, and Germans.

Broadband access is the great equalizer, leveling the playing field so that every willing and able person, no matter their station in life, has access to the information and tools necessary to achieve the American Dream.

I think day care is terrific. Kids get to be around other kids, and they're playing, and they're teaching each other. When I was in college, my summer job was being a preschool teacher. I loved it, and after that experience, I said I can't wait to put my kid in day care because I could see how much they loved it.

Both my grandmothers had upright pianos, and I just knew how to play since I was a child. Nobody taught me. I sounded like a grown-up, and then I learned how to read music. I played so well by ear I could fool the teacher to believe I could play the notes. She'd make the mistake of playing the song once, and I could play it.

I basically started playing violin at the age of six. That lasted about three years because my previous teacher died and the second teacher didn't really know how to successfully get me going.

I had people in my life who didn't give up on me: my mother, my aunt, my science teacher. I had one-on-one speech therapy. I had a nanny who spent all day playing turn-taking games with me.

I always wrote music for my friends, but my focus was on playing piano. I didn't think I'd be quite good enough to be a soloist, but I believed that if I worked hard enough, I could work as a player, a teacher.

A very bland eleven-year-old, playing computer games. I went to a local primary school but I wasn't anything special or anything insanely interesting. I didn't have a crazy personality. I was somewhat book smart, but I wasn't hanging off the teacher, nor was I messing up in class. I wasn't doing much to disrupt anything. I was just there, existing.

It was hard when my mother left us. I said to myself: 'You must keep working hard for her.' She was a teacher, a big influence. She made me work harder. So when I'm not doing something right or when I'm not playing or working hard enough, I remember what she used to say to me. She gets me moving. She pushed me to work hard.

I first started actually playing guitar when I was eleven years old. I had some neighborhood friends who told me they were starting a band and needed a guitarist. I told my folks, and by the next day I had a guitar lesson set up with a local teacher.

I don't care about sympathy. I care about playing a character who's understandable and clear.