Thanksgiving

Well, it's that time of year again, you know, Halloween is over, Christmas decorations in all the stores and on some of the neighborhood houses (ALREADY??), and Thanksgiving, as usual is lost in the shuffle.  It has always been an interesting holiday for me, I always felt bad that it seemed to be an afterthought to some.  Wedged in between arguably the funnest, and most favorite holidays, it never got it's own just dues.  It is the time to give thanks for the things we have, the kiddos will make construction paper hand-print turkey's, there will be discussion of pilgrims, the fact that the turkey was almost our national bird, you know all that stuff to help make Thanksgiving feel like we think about it, but all the while, we are starting to think about Christmas.

Well not this year!  This is a different year for me.  I have a lot of thinks to be thankful for, and a lot of things to reflect upon.

First and foremost, I got remarried this year.  I had someone find me, that thinks almost as much about me as I do her.  She shows me every day what I have to be thankful for, and gives me a reason to live, and that I am truly blessed.  I love you Kim, so much more than ever!!!

More recent events have me reflecting on other more somber things.  My ex-father-in-law died unexpectedly just a short time ago.  This was a man that I loved, and he loved me.  We both had a funny way of showing it, he would always greet me with some comment about how fat I was, and I would give him a hard time about being old.  But he was a great man, and an awesome Grandfather to my 2 sons, and all his Grandchildren for that matter.  I am thankful that we were a part of each others lives, and that he always treated me the way he did.  It seems when 2 people get divorced, everyone feels they need to take a side, and he never did that.  He always treated me the same way, and I have found out how rare that is.  I miss you every day Bob, I love you.

I am also thankful for my kids.  Not just my 2 sons, but my step-daughter too.  They are all three as different from one another as they are the same.  None of them probably come close to grasping how I feel about them.  They have no idea how many lives they have touched, and I just wish they would open up enough that the feelings between everyone in their lives could be shared.  I love you Joey, Corey and Keara, please take it easy on all your parents, and those they chose to be with..  Your biggest hope should be that your birth parents are happy, so let it be, embrace those around you, and feel free to reevaluate next year.  We all want to be a part of your lives, try to feel the same way back.

I am thankful for my parents, they are great, and they help me in more ways than they can imagine.  I hope that I have had the influence on my kids that my parents inflicted on me.  They are always there, good and bad, when I am trying to make a decision, or to steer me away from doing the wrong thing.  Not that I haven't made bad choices before, we all have, but they are there, and always will be.  Thanks Mom and Dad, I love you.

So here's hoping you all take a little time to reflect on a few things you are thankful for, and don't just eat yourself into oblivion searching for the best Black Friday deals to go to.

Peace,

Woody