Thanks.

A number of years ago my mother tried to start a Thanksgiving tradition. While the food sat steaming on the table, she asked that each of us seated at the dinner table say what we are thankful for. The rest of that side of the family, not really being the touchy feely type, would thank the fates for the aforementioned hot food on the table and then ask when we could eat. I don’t know if that’s what Mom had in mind; I always thought she wanted us to pour our heart out and end up sobbing in the mashed potatoes. Well, maybe she didn’t have that in mind, but I think she wanted us all to get all Waltons and say good night to John Boy while the music went DING, ding, DING at the end.

This is the first Thanksgiving in a couple of years that I have been able to enjoy the day without being paranoid as to when my on-call pager was going to ring for that next telecommunications emergency. Tempted to run around a few states visiting family members, Earl and I decided that we would celebrate the lack of an electronic leash by having a simple Thanksgiving at home for just the two of us. He did his thing in the kitchen and I helped out by staying out of the way, cleaning up behind him best I could and declaring in a comical voice “Cook’s not a t’all ‘appy!” whenever he started the mixer on the sweet potatoes.

While I’m a very lucky man and thankful for all that I have (all sides of the families rock, I’m truly blessed to be able to follow my career dreams, our cat is a cat’s cat and I still can’t believe how much Earl and I love each other after nearly a dozen years), I’d like to say thanks to the online buddies I’ve met in cyberspace and in real time over the years. I have no idea how many people read the blog, but since you do, I’d like to thank you for stopping by and sharing my life’s experience with me. Earl and I have met some wonderful people over the years (hello Greg and Bob, Steve and Tim, Tim and Gordon, Thom, Karl and Randy, Eric, Sean and Jeffrey and a ton of others!) and we look forward to meeting many more.

Life is meant to be lived without regret. It’s all a journey and it’s just a bunch of learning experiences along the way. And once in a while it’s good to remember to say thanks once in a while.