The Man From Glad

On the road again today, driving back home to Champaign from Detroit. Can't wait to see my wife's smile and sparkling blue eyes again. You know, when we were dating, I would always play the Elton John song "Blue Eyes" at some point while traveling to see her, sing along with gusto and get all geeked up to be with her. (I'm not sure she knows that.)

These long road trips are wearying but necessary, since most of my major clients are still located in Motown and many of the stories I write demand I be here for research and interviews. When I think about it, though, I'm glad I have the ability to make these treks.

When I go on dialysis (which will be sooner than later, so I'm told), the journeys will be more challenging – I'll have to lug along a suitcase-sized blood cleaning machine along with several large bags of filtering solution – but I'll still make them. I refuse to let my condition define my lifestyle.

Besides, I remember a couple of years when I couldn't seem to land a job if my life depended on it and was living in Detroit too broke to afford a car. You want to talk about desperation, I was the definition. Detroit, for all its wonders, must have the worst public transportation system of any major city. I've always believed it was by design: We make the cars, and by thunder, everybody here is going to buy at least one.

So even something as unremarkable as having a late-model American automobile to drive on these multi-state commutes makes me glad, and thankful. I'm also glad to have:

The most remarkable wife any man could hope for – funny, smart, beautiful, organized and a more knowledgeable sports fan than I could ever hope to be;

In-laws who are genuinely good and nice people, and who have accepted me into their lives;

Emma and Madison, the twins, who keep me active, engaged, and constantly fascinated;

A friend like Larry Kaplan, who has reserved a room for me at his condo in West Bloomfield, Mich., providing me a place to stay and work whenever I'm in Detroit;

More assignments than I could have dared to wish for in this troubled economy, and most important,

My health, now and for whatever form it may take in the future. Because, like the old folks say, when you've got your health, you've got everything.

How can one man be so blessed?