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Thanksgiving 2019


“I am grateful for what I am and have.
My thanksgiving is perpetual.”
-Henry David Thoreau

Happy Thanksgiving to all.  This is the day of the year where we often eat too much and watch too much football. It is also a day to give thanks.  So, before the turkey is served, and before the games begin, I count the many blessings in my life. 

First, comes my family.  With me or without, my family is a wonderful group of folks.  All are good people doing good things, working to be better, sacrificing for others, and helping their friends. It is my honor to be among you.   I am always grateful for my parents, both good people who helped me no end in those early years, pointing me in the directions of good works, morality, honesty, and strength of character.

The second is my life, as in I still have one. Because my dad died so young, I thought the same would be my fate.  But now decades later I’m still here, and with a detour or two have my health – which I do appreciate for which I’m most grateful.

 I’m also thankful I have sufficient resources to carry on without too much scrimping (a word taught me by my mom), knowing wealth does not make you happier. I’m still writing, thinking, reading, and generally doing, and I’m grateful I still want to. I even have some old friends wanting to take up new professional projects. Not bad!   Being passive is no way to be.  

And I’m most thankful that I have hope for the future.  Hope for myself (of course); hope for my family (of course); hope for my friends (of course). Have hope! Hope is like a tiny battery deep inside that must not fail. If it fails, you do.

Health and Family and Friends. Got ‘em. And thank you!

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