All through Thanksgiving, I had a sense of trying too, too hard trying to be thankful. This was the second Thanksgiving without Sandy and my second Thanksgiving that I, like far too many others, “celebrated” alone. I am proud of the fact that I did make it a special day; cooking traditional and family favorites that I spent a week consuming. It helped but it wasn’t anywhere the same.
There was no humbug about it. It was just hard to think of this day as a day to be very thankful about. Then I forced myself to quit dwelling on all of the negatives and start listing the positives. Here is the list so far:
- I am thankful that God gave me 30 years with Sandy. Her health was so bad that those many years was a blessing.
- I am thankful that, at 71, I am blessed with better than average health. I have seen others my age that have not been so blessed so I know the difference.
- I am thankful for the memories of my family around the table at so, so many Thanksgivings, where everyone was welcome; strangers included. All were welcome, all were happy, all were blessed.
- I am thankful that I am secure enough that I am unlikely ever to worry about losing my home, worry about medical care, or worry about paying my bills. Yes, I worked hard to achieve that, but I cannot help but be thankful that it worked out.
- Most of all: I am thankful that my family seems to be doing well. Enough so that , given our ages, they are not suffering health issues. I know that they are there for me as I am for them. This is both a comfort and a blessing for someone reaching my age.
So, even if somewhat esoteric, an old fart like me, generally dwelling on the negative can find a whole lot to be thankful for if he just looks around. I am sure I could find more but this is a good start.
