I Am Thankful

Several posts in the shoutbox today got me thinking and so I decided to start a new thread about it. What are you thankful for? It could be simple or complex, sappy or sweet.

I'll start -
I am grateful for my family. A loving & supportive wife and three healthy, brilliant kids (sure, I'm probably biased...meh). I could go on but I'll need something to be thankful for tomorrow.

 

To plagiarizer a favorite author and friend, Mr. J.L. Burke: I have arrived at the age where I no longer speculate on the validity of a mad-man's vision, nor the foibles of human behavior. My greatest fear is in man's propensity to act collectively, in lock-step, under the Banner of God, Country, or public welfare and safety. There is no more odious complaint on any social or political endeavor than the universal approval of the dumb masses. I am most thankful, when left totally to my own devices.

 

I am grateful that I have another day to keep prepping...for what, specifically, I'm not sure but I KNOW it's necessary and appreciate another day to "get 'er done".

 

I'm thankful for the support of a patient loving woman who is my best friend, lover and wife, the admiration of my 15 year old son and the respect of my co-workers.

 

I am so thankful for my children's heart warming laughter.

 

I am thankful, my Father still lives. He has been my role model, mentor, and a true loving parent my entire 50 years.
I came very close to losing him in the last two weeks. He is expected to be released from the hospital some time today.
My Mother has not left his side, but for food and sleep, unless some other family member was with him. They are both about 70, and were high school sweethearts, and still are.

 

I ran into an old friend today. When a friend says, "my child has cancer", all melts away. All anger, irritation, daily BS- that no longer matters. I am thankful for my children's good health. I am thankful for the blessed life I have. I am thankful the child is responding to treatment.

 

I am bumping this thread and featuring. Sometimes I think we all forget to stop and count our blessings. It is the little things that often keep us going. Small, often mundane things are often the things we forget to be thankful for.

 

Noticed that this was a featured thread (thx @Motomom34) and realized I hadn't posted anything to it since 2014.

A lot has changed for me in the last 4+ years, and I am thankful for much of it.
I am thankful for

• My amazing, wonderful, beautiful wife. For the last 20+ years she has been willing (and we have been able) to be a stay-at-home mom. Very little, if anything, on this list would be possible without her willingness to do that. My bride of 23 years (so far) makes everything I do worth while.
  
• My three, beautiful, frighteningly smart, driven, crazy kids. Since this thread started, one has entered college (Jr. this year), one has moved from middle-school into High-School and is now doing "middle college" for his Jr. and Sr. year in High School. The third will be going to Japan for 2 weeks for middle school exchange.
• My job(s). I moved jobs twice since this thread started and the moves were both (eventually) for the better. Friday was the first paycheck post-promotion at my current job and, well, we've been blessed. The difference, on a monthly basis, is significant. To the point that my wife called me while I was at work when the paycheck was deposited (actually the day before due to the amount "pending") and asked if there had been some mistake or they had forgotten to take something out. I have no degree, in fact I have no college credit to my name worth mentioning (and what I did have wouldn't count anymore anyway). I have, again, been blessed to get into technology early, when a degree wasn't required, and hard work has paid off. By the end of next year I should be completely out of debt except for my house and still be able to help the kids through college (and put away for retirement).
  
• My health. I'm not in the greatest shape, but I'm really not too badly off either. My left knee clicks when I walk up stairs (no, no pain) and I grunt when I get up off the couch, but I'm only a few pounds "overweight" (if BMI charts can be believed anymore) and unless I do something exceedingly stupid, my back doesn't blow out very often. With bullet 3, I can afford to switch from a CPAP machine to a mouth-guard and I cannot wait to sleep on my stomach! Yeah, I'm losing my hair but I blame that on bullet point 2.
• Friends. There are many on this forum I consider friends although we've never met. Some of you I agree with most of the time and others...well, I don't, but I still consider you friends and would break bread with you given the chance. "IRL" friends are a bit fewer, because I'm a home-body and can be somewhat reclusive outside of nuclear family. But the friends I have, I feel, are real and have and will be there through thick and thin.

My life is good. There are ups and downs, but what complaints I have really are minimal and very "first world".

 

I am thankful for so many things especially the way God looks after me in spite of my self.
I have good friends and acquaintances people I trust and people that appreciate my input .
I have place to live and things that need done and more than any man can dream ,its the carrot of life that demands action and that is important.
I'd rather fight be and killed by a bear then stuck in a chair for the rest of my life .
Not that I am a thrill seeker ,but I am not afraid of adventure and love to learn and explore and see things the rest of the world is too busy to see .
I am thankful for the opportunities of life to venture in the deep and swim among the sea creatures ,though I can appreciate what is in space it is too far from my grasp but the earth is not too far and there is so much to appreciate of God's handy work.

 

I'm thankful for my health, the love and patience of a good women, a healthy family and (for now) a Free Nation where I can live a good life.

Having lived, not just visited, in some real Hell-holes, I have to think the US has enjoyed Divine tolerance, if not favor over the past many years. How much longer this situation might last is the thing of night mares..... See what you will, but I am grateful for those before me that gave so much - up to and including their very lives, to ensure this Nation would survive....