The Thankfulness Thread

[Axtremus]

A Thanksgiving meal that is more appropriately portioned. It’s probably the first Thanksgiving meal in my adult memory where I did not eat too much.

In hind sight, for all my life to date I do not remember having to starve. That is probably sufficient reason to be thankful.

[Mik]

Lamb shanks are awesome. Nice dinner.

Somehow I never end up eating too much on Thanksgiving. Just don't like that feeling of being stuffed.

[MainerMikeBrown]

I am thankful for:

My good physical and mental health.

That I live in Maine, which I think is a nice place to live.

My Thanksgiving Day yesterday went well.

We didn't have power outages around here yesterday, as I thought we might since we had freezing rain here yesterday morning.

My car hasn't had any mechanical issues in a long time.

And more.

[Mik]

@MainerMikeBrown sometimes the things we take for granted are great blessings.

[Jolly]

I'm thankful for family. You get to choose your friends, not your family. I'm lucky to have plenty of loud, irritating, wonderful family.

I'm thankful for my wife. It's been a good life with her. I'd like to live to see fifty years with her. I've done forty and would do every day over again. Even the bad ones.

I'm thankful for roots. I can walk across my place and note where every beloved pet is buried. I know where the iron hitch ring is buried in the old oak, even though it's long covered over. I can look down the pines in the thicket and still see the row remnants of grandpa's sweet potato patch. I can walk across the road and find the mound where my great grandpa built a brick cistern in the 1880's. Sometimes, I walk through the woods and kick over one of Uncle Henry's pint whiskey bottles. Henry couldn't handle his liquor and he'd sneak a bottle from town when he could. A big fault in an otherwise very good man. The memories lay over the land like a winter fog, so if you squint a little, you can sometimes see things and people that are long gone.

I'm thankful to live in a free land, in a time of peace and plenty. Those countries and those times are rarer than we think. I pray that our freedom is never taken away or given up freely for the fool's gold of socialism.

Lastly, I'm thankful for a risen Savior. Many of you don't believe, but that's ok. His coming has made the world a better place. It has given us hope, redemption and salvation. It has given even those who do not believe in Him, a roadmap to a successful life, a successful community and a better world. Man needs a framework to structure his life around. It's a shame that all of us so often ignore his teachings and the angels of our better natures, preferring instead to destroy people, relationships and nations in pursuit of some perceived ephemeral want.

I've been blessed. I often forget how much...

[Larry]

Jolly, you have expressed my list pretty much exactly.

[Optimistic]

That's awesome, Jolly : )

More and more, I am thankful for my health. I have been so lucky so far in life. Too many friends are struggling with something, mental or physical.

These past few months I'm thankful for employment, and a solid work community.

Also thankful for the trails all around where I live, and the ability to quickly feel like I can disappear in the woods despite being smack in suburbia.

[Mik]

@Optimistic and a great dog.

[Rainman]

Jolly, that was a wonderful post.
Your values say a lot about you as a person.

[Optimistic]

@Mik
SO thankful!

[George K]

In no particular order.

My bride of 43 ½ years. I can't imagine being with anyone else.

The last four years of retirement - the best, absolutely the best, years of my life. I am financially secure, my health is good. I am beyond grateful for not having worries.

My kids. Yeah, they're a pain in the ass sometimes, but they are fun, and now that they're adults, they've become my friends, not my children.

My animals. I've never been without animals. They teach you about patience, love and tolerance. Even when sick and elderly, they're a treasure.

My "friends". In quotation marks because many are "pixel people." I've never been a particularly social person (parties and the like), so my interaction with "virtual friends," here and on FB, many of whom I've never met IRL is of so much value to me. Mrs. George is jealous.

There's a lot more, but that what comes to the top of my mind.

[George K]

I take it back.

Where I said, "In no particular order?"

Yeah, my bride is #1. The rest you can order any way you want.

[taiwan_girl]

@Rainman said in The Thankfulness Thread:

Jolly, that was a wonderful post.
Your values say a lot about you as a person.

+1

[Horace]

+2