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Once again, there’s much to cherish, be thankful for |
Thanksgiving is only a week away and it is going to take me at least that long to list everything I have to be thankful for! But don’t worry, I’m not going to try to squeeze everything into this one column. I’m just going to hit the highlights and you’ll have to guess the rest.
First of all, I am thankful for the parents I had. It didn’t seem like I had them long enough, but that can be said of any good and loving parent I guess. People who knew my parents seem to automatically give me the benefit of the doubt and assume that I am going to be something like them. I often disappoint those people.
I am thankful for the rest of my family. It’s not a big family but it is the best. My sisters are good at everything they do - especially at being my sisters. They are good human beings who chose good husbands and had good children. They are good wives and mothers and aunts. They have been good friends to me and to each other. They were good daughters and they made their parents very proud. They have both made warm and happy homes for their families. Every time I have needed them, they have been there to help me, and they have given me three terrific, handsome nephews and two wonderful, beautiful nieces.
My brother has been a constant source of support and encouragement and amusement, despite the fact that he is almost always half-way around the world! His daily emails keep me in his life, and writing to him every day helps me keep track of my own life. He does things I would never dare to do and so I live vicariously through him. He is a good man and a brave man and he is very good at what he does. He is kind and generous and loving and the best brother anyone could ever have.
I’m thankful for my other family as well - my church family at Zion Lutheran here in Milaca. It is filled with sinners who want to be good people, with good people who want to serve others, and with servant people who love God and their neighbors too. Being around these people has made me a better person which makes it imperative that I hang out with them as much as possible. They have taught me so much about kindness and generosity and reaching out to others. I’m also grateful for my pastor at Zion - a fellow preacher’s kid who shares his preacher’s kid stories and pretty much shares my sense of humor, who gives very good sermons and gives everything he’s got to the Zion family.
I am thankful for the woman who has been my best friend since sixth grade. We talk every night - she claims she has free minutes on her cell phone but I am not sure that’s true! We talk and laugh and get every bit as silly as we ever did 51 years ago when we were 11. We have more to be silly about now that we are into our geezerhood!
Getting old is not for sissies and it isn’t for the humor-impaired either. Laughter is the best medicine and we are well on the way to an overdose! We remember the old days and try to remember last week. We talk about her grandkids and kids and our cats and we talk about books and movies and TV shows. We talk about her day and my day and we agree that boring is not the worst thing.
I am thankful for my cats. Yes, there are two now. Buddy is almost a year and a half now and little six-month-old Sweetpea moved in recently. I’m glad Buddy has taken to being a big sister to the little one because she has grown from a little bit of a kitten into a sleek and muscular lady cat. Sweetpea is just a little ball of fluff, but very brave and persistent and she thinks Buddy’s tail is the best toy ever! And yes, I am sure Sweetpea is a girl - I had her checked by the vet!
And I am thankful for all of you gracious readers who read this feeble column every other week. I am especially grateful for the ones who stop me in the grocery store or on the street and say they got a smile from something I wrote or it triggered a happy memory. Or say that they had to stop and ponder the state of my sanity! Thank you!
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