Thanksgiving 2014

I am early with my Thanksgiving thoughts, but most likely if I wait until the right time the thoughts will have run out of my head and I will end up posting some dopey platitude and running off in embarrassment.

The list of what I am grateful for gets longer every year if counted individually: that I am still driving, knitting, able to kayak and cycle for hours, able to walk for miles, able to read, cook, talk, go where I please. They are all the same thing, really. I am able. No catastrophic illness has found me, no accident robbed me of my abilities. At 65 I am a little slower but still able, and the better for the years of learning how to do things in ways that get the most done with the least amount of effort.

My mother and my siblings, my nieces and nephews are all still living, except for a baby brother gone in infancy who I can hardly remember. We are in various stages of health, but all still enjoying life. My children and grandchildren are all well. All have homes and enough to eat. We have enjoyed lives which might be difficult to our eyes but in comparison with much of the world are luxurious beyond imagination.

I am living in my own home with a wife who treats me like a queen, with two dogs, a car of my own, and space for as much gardening as I choose to do. I live in a beautiful place within 15 minutes drive of the beach, and 90 minutes from a world class city. I have enough money to afford hobbies,  the time to pursue them and friends to join in the fun.

The things I miss or wish for are fewer. I have lost some dear friends among my in-laws and there are friends around the country who I may not see for many years. My ability to travel is not infinite. The Internet keeps them in my life. I need no material thing, and there are very few things I desire that I do not have. My life is good and I am thankful.