"Giving Thanks"

The holiday season is here already. I don't believe it! It was just summer and now it is Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year's. We haven't even had but a touch of cold weather and the Christmas decorations are already up in my town of Perry.

The worst thing about all this is that there will be many days of holidays and that messes my week up. I love sameness and routine, and when the holidays come it means my paper won't be printed and my mail will be interrupted (thank God for e-mail that functions on holidays just as well as normal days). It also means I will eat to much, spend too much money, and blah blah blah blah blah!!!!

The good thing is my wife loves holidays. She loves putting up the tree, decorating the house, buying the presents - all that stuff. My job is not to get too grumpy. Believe me that is a full time job. Still I do make an effort, I honestly do.

And even if I don't like holidays I am grateful for tons of other things. Top of the list is my family. I am truly blessed in that area. I have the best wife in the world. She is beautiful inside and out, and has the most loving spirit of anyone I know. We have been married for over thirty years and I want a hundred more.

My sons are also special. I talk to them at least once a day and many days it is more than that. We all just like each other, as well as love each other. They definitely got the best of me and I am so proud of them I could burst. They are wise men too as they picked the perfect wives. I never had a daughter but I have two terrific daughters in law.

Then there are the grandkids. Uh, oh don't get me started. They are the most beautiful, the most loving, the smartest children you have ever seen. I never thought I could love anyone the way I love my children, but there is something really special about grandchildren.

I also include my brother in my family because in the past few years he and I have become really close again. We went through some rough years but now everything is fine. He and I talk at least every other day (God bless cell phones) and we actually communicate. He is the last member left of my growing up family and I cherish him.

Then there are my friends. Each and every person with whom I am close is special. I don't see them as often as I would like but when I do it is such fun just being around them. Friends are the icing on the cake of life.

I am more and more thankful for my health as I see and hear of people with terrible health problems. And I am thankful I can do work I enjoy and which gives richness to my life. There are hundreds of other things I could name for which I am thankful, but let me just say I am grateful for the little things in my life. These are the routine things, the common everyday things that make my life unbelievably good.

My life is great and I give thanks for it. I don't deserve my blessings but I surely do appreciate them.

 

 

 

 

 

©2006 Jackie K. Cooper

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