Thankishly filled…

You often hear people on Thanksgiving talk about those things for which they are giving thanks.

Man, does that sound awkward. I’m not just talking about that sentence structure; I’m talking about the incessant and gratuitous thanking that goes on. “I’m thankful for my job. I’m thankful for my family,” they say. No kidding? Thanks for pointing that out, because most people aren’t…

My point is, it’s easy to be thankful for all the things that make your life better – because they make your life better! But what about those things that make it crappy? Where would you be without that? How would you know just what you have and just what you have to be thankful for if other impediments did not stand in the way?

And so, it is with this in mind that I present the following list for this Thanksgiving…

 

I am thankful for the three jobs I lost this year, because without them I wouldn’t appreciate just how hard this journey to become a full-time writer is.

I am thankful for my weight issues, because without them I’d probably be much lazier.

I am thankful for my wife’s often-fragile health, because it reminds me just how temporary our time together is.

I am thankful for my father-in-law’s stay in the hospital, because it helped me appreciate my in-laws better.

I am thankful for the mistakes I make, because I get an opportunity to learn from them.

I am thankful for my messy pets, because they would be insufferable if they were perfect.

I am thankful for the friends who left me, some of whom read this blog, because it makes me appreciate the ones I still have.

And lastly, I am thankful for this life. It ain’t perfect. Hell, sometimes it ain’t all that good… but it’s mine.

 

(But I’m not thankful for Justin Beiber… let’s not get crazy.)