Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s that time of year again. We get one day…24 short hours. A brief blip of time in our calendar year which is 365 times bigger than this one day. (I know, some of you think it should have been 364, but the year is 365 days and 1 times any number is that number. It’s a math thing.)

Normally, most of the friends and family who read these all-too-infrequent posts tend to receive them in their e-mails, read them and that’s about where the story ends. In fact, I wonder how many people have even been to the website, rather than just getting the e-mails, in a long time. This time, however, I’m going to be so bold as to actually ask people to be a bit more participative.

This time, I’m going to ask that you come to the site, open this message, read it (Optional, to a degree, but if you don’t read it you won’t know I’m asking you to do this. Really, we could get into a paradoxical vortex of circular reasoning here, so we’ll just stop now.), scroll to the bottom and leave a comment.

I don’t want to just leave it at that, however. No, you’re not getting out of it that easily. I’m about to go old-school on you. I don’t want just any comment. That’s right, I want people to write a comment about some specific thing (preferably things) that they are thankful for. This is like a techno-geeky version of the old picture of the family sitting around the Thanksgiving Day meal sharing what they’re thankful for.

Let’s share some gratitude. Let’s open up a bit. Let your guard down. Don’t be shy. And, by the way, none of these entries about how “I’m just thankful that I’m alive” unless you went through something that could have resulted in that not being the case. No, “I’m thankful for all the blessings God has given me.” Sorry. Not specific enough.

I guess I can start by sharing what I’m thankful for this year:

• For being married to a beautiful woman who stays the course with me through thick and thin. Who I can always count on to be there because family is her priority and I always know that if I truly need something, she is right there.
• For a little boy who brings so much joy and laughter to my life. Yes, he can also bring frustration and anxiety. But mostly, he is turning out to be a sweet, caring, affectionate little boy with a wonderful sense of humor and an ocean of love that he gives to his family.
• For a little girl whose laugh is more contagious than the common cold. She is not only adorable and headstrong, but she can also be very fun and adventurous.
• For a mom who consistently and regularly shows how much she cares and thinks about me and my little family by never letting too much time go by without calling just to see how everyone is doing.
• For parents who can conspire with my aforementioned beautiful bride behind my back to plan a surprise trip to Arizona to visit and spend time with us (time which was spent putting my dad to work for three solid days helping to build a new play set).
• For siblings (I figured I try to catch them all in one to save space) who travelled across the country to visit and spend time with me and my family when I hadn’t seen any of them for a long time. I can’t tell you all how much I appreciate the effort you went to. (Even though, in my brothers’ case, this was another example of conspiracy with my wife…I may have to re-write that first point, the more I think about it.)
• For my entire family-in-law who have, from the very beginning, made me feel like I was a flesh-and-blood member of their family. From a mother-in-law who spends an enormous amount of time and energy helping us when we need someone to watch one (or both) kiddos, or takes Kyle for sleep-overs so we can get a full night’s sleep for a change or any of the other bajillionty-seven things she does, or a father-in-law who has never failed to treat me with dignity and respect.
• And, to save the best for last (yeah, I’m about to break my own rule…just a bit), for a Creator who has gifted me with so much and has given me the desire and the ability to continue to seek Him out, learn more about Him, find answers to difficult questions about my faith, provide the evidence I need to know the Truth so that I can be as certain as I can that my faith has meaning, direction, purpose and merit. And that this same God, who created everything that is, also cares about little old me.

I guess I’ll end with that. After all, I have to save something for next year!

Now, it’s your turn. You don’t have to be as verbose as me (there are few who can), but please share with the rest of us at least one or two specific things that you are thankful for.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!