In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday, I thought it might be fun to make a list of reasons we can be thankful for sex. Frivolous? Yes. Silly? Absolutely. But after the last couple depressing posts, I figure it’s time to lighten things up. Plus, it’s Turkey Day—and my 36th birthday to boot.

So here goes…

36 Reasons to be Thankful for Sex (and feel free to add your own):

1. Early on, my parents taught me: Sex is something you share with someone you love
2. It also happens to be fun
3. It’s the one time you don’t mind your partner pushing your buttons
4. It’s the precursor to pillow talk
5. (Who doesn’t love pillow talk?)
6. Even when you’re dead tired and don’t feel like having sex beforehand, you’re usually happy you did afterward
7. It’s the natural (dopamine) high
8. There are things that happen during sex that no one in human existence—besides you and your partner—will ever, ever know about
9. Like how s/he reacts when you do THIS
10. Or how you react when s/he does THAT
11. Or that time you farted
12. Sex creates intimacy
13. It can simultaneously make you feel totally vulnerable and totally accepted by another person
14. Sex laughs are some of the most joyous, delightful giggles ever
15. What else besides sex could make us straight gals find a bodily protuberance that behaves like an old man (at times shriveled, at times doddering, at times swaying and posturing) so immensely fascinating
16. You can get a RISE out of your husband without getting him pissed off
17. It’s a great way to burn calories
18. There’s nothing like the feel of skin on skin
19. Despite your too-large nose, too-small breasts, bowed legs, flabby thighs, and extra fifteen pounds, sex can make you feel incredibly sexy
20. It doesn’t take a university degree to be good at it
21. Or money
22. It’s FREE!
23. It scratches an itch
24. When else do you get to see your partner totally AGOG
25. Sometimes it comes with backrubs: oily backrubs, back-scratch backrubs, get-the-kinks-out backrubs, loooong backrubs
26. (Did I mention how much I love backrubs?)
27. With the music set soft (or loud), the lights on low (or high), and the appropriate mental attitude (or abandon), it can make you feel like you’re the star of your own movie
28. And, no, I’m not talking about making your own REAL movie like in that one Desperate Housewives episode (but, hey, whatever floats yer boat…)
29. It gives you an excuse to buy sexy lingerie, which likely turns you on as much, or more, than your partner
30. Feeling sexy feels good
31. What else were you going to do with that Costco jar of K-Y?
32. It’s one way to feel selfless and generous and loving
33. It’s one way to feel self-indulgent and pampered and loved
34. Two words and a letter: The Big O
35. It’s what peopled the entire planet and all of human history looking back and looking forward
36. It created your partner, your kids, and your self

Thank you, Sex.

Now go eat your turkey.

Writer and mom Janna Cawrse is writing a relationship memoir called The Motion of the Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, and the World’s Longest Honeymoon (Touchstone Fireside, summer 2009). You can read more about relationships at her Seattle Post-Intelligencer blog Happily Even After. If you have questions or topic ideas for “Moms Like Sex Too,” email janna [at] seattlemomblogs.com.