Forty-Two Things I Am Thankful For (Out of Many)

Herb’s Blog, Herbdate 22940 – 1029

My dear Fans, Friends, Fiends, Foes, Foundlings, Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of All Ages, and Creatures From All Galaxies,

Here’s the haps:

I have been feeling reflective. “Shiny as a clean mirror, reflective?” you ask. No, not that kind of reflecting, the kind of reflecting where you think back over your life and go, “What happened? How did I wind up here already? Wait! Go back! I want a do-over!” But there are no do-overs. What’s done is done. So you might as well be thankful. There is so much in my life I have to be thankful for I could never begin to tell it all. So, today’s post is going to be upbeat and positive and, especially, thankful.

One problem with making a list like this is where to even start. How do you say it all? Is it even possible to say it all? Well, there is no way to even know all the things that have been done on my behalf both by the hand of Almighty God and by the hands of people. Here is a short, very random, list of a few of the things I have to be thankful for:

1) I am thankful for my wife, Margaret, who has stood by me all these 42 years and put up with my various moods, has held my hand, and has just made my life everything that it is. I really don’t appreciate her enough.

2) God healed me as an infant and I can walk.

3) For friends who know me but love me anyway.

4) My cyber-friends count, too. You guys are a really great bunch.

5) I am thankful for and to you, dear reader. All of my fans, friends, fiends and even foes, who come to visit me here. I have the greatest, most intelligent, kindest, mostest superlativest readers in the world. That is not just a schmooze. I have scientists, engineers, architects, non-commissioned and commissioned military officers, teachers, writers, poets, politicians, students, and working people among you. I am actually humbled to think of the quality of the people who stop by here.

6) I have a church community that is more than family to me and that loves me and prays for me and accepts me as I am.

7) The house we live in, which was a gift from God.

8) For my parents, although I never appreciated them enough.

9) For the Bible. God not only gave us salvation but also a way to learn about it and get to know Him.

10) The discovery of electrical current.

11) Light bulbs.

12) John Stith Pemberton’s invention, Dr. Pemberton’s Pick Me Up, aka, Coca-Cola.

13) That I can get Mountain Dew when Coca-Cola isn’t available.

14) The Italians for bringing their recipes with them.

15) For my German immigrant ancestors.

16) For my Irish immigrant ancestors.

17) For my English and Scottish immigrant ancestors.

18) Coffee.

19) Language and the ability to communicate.

20) Computers.

21) Books.

22) Mountains/Pikes Peak/Colorado Scenery

23) Colorado Springs Weather

24) Honeybees.

25) Automobiles.

26) I’m really thankful for the forgiveness that comes from family and friends.

27) Iambic pentameter is awesome.

28) Adverbs and adjectives.

29) The friendship and laughter of children. If you’ve never watched a 6-year-old’s eyes light up as they get a joke for the first time or listened to a group of 8-year-old boys make a secret plan; then you have missed out.

30) Wisconsin Cheese.

31) Sun-Drop Soda Pop

32) Cheese curds

33) Whole milk

34) The way an older person’s eyes light up when they have something to say and know they have your attention.

35) That there is an after-life beyond the threescore years and ten or fourscore.

36) Music.

37) Copyright laws.

38) Recordings of old-time radio shows that would otherwise be lost to the world.

39) Boy Scouts of America.

40) Men and women of conviction.

41) That I was able to be in the U. S. Army and receive an honorable discharge.

42) That my children, so vastly different from each other, are loving and loyal and will fight for someone they perceive is the underdog.

And that’s just a drop in the bucket of what I have to be thankful for. And I would like to thank you, folks, for kindly dropping in.