Am I Thankful? Are You Kidding?

Last weekend was just about as wonderful a Thanksgiving season as anyone has a right to enjoy. On Thursday evening, seated around our sumptuous dinner feast, we instituted a new holiday tradition: We went around the table and asked each person to say what they were most thankful for this year.

A few tears were shed in the process, and I'm not ashamed to admit I may have dropped one or two into the turkey gravy myself. I think they finally had to ask me to shut up before the meal got cold. What am I most thankful for in 2009? How about everything?

You know how some years seem to blend into each other with the passage of time, and it becomes difficult to remember exactly what milestones happened when? That certainly never will be a problem for me when it comes to 2009.

It isn't every year that a guy gets married, loses a job, leaves the city where he's lived for 30 years, moves three times in six months, relocates to his in-laws' basement, becomes a co-parent to 9-year-old twins, passes out on the bathroom floor and gets hospitalized for a gash on his forehead, and has a catheter implanted in his midsection in preparation for kidney dialysis. Yeah, it'll be a hard year to forget.

Through it all, I'm extremely thankful for my health, odd as that may sound. I don't have to look too far to find people in much worse shape than I'm in, Vicodin is a miracle in terms of lessening the pain from my recent surgery, and all in all I'm feeling great. People who oughta know tell me I should
begin feeling even better once my dialysis begins and my body receives the help it needs to cleanse my system properly. I'm looking forward to finding out if they're right.

I'm also thankful for a wonderful, caring family that has taken me into its fold as if I was a prodigal son, expressing love for me in so many ways despite the physical infirmities I brought along as baggage.

But what am I most thankful for? That's easy. Anyone who has met my wife, Karen, comes away remarking about what an amazing person she is, and if you haven't met her, my sincere hope is that you get to someday.

Regretfully, I've had a bit of experience assessing wives in my lifetime, and no man could ask for a more supportive, loving, objective, cheerful, committed partner than the one God has blessed me with. There is no doubt in my mind that the Lord brought us together, because I cannot think of another possible scenario where a guy living in the 'hood on Detroit's East Side could meet and fall in love with a woman residing and working in central Illinois.

Karen is truly one of the nicest individuals I have ever known, and I am a better man today for having her as such an integral part of my life. Happy Thanksgiving to me.

And she can make some mean stuffing, too.