A Few Thanks for Thanksgiving

I've long felt that on Thanksgiving (and through the whole year as well), being thankful for something or someone is a nice sentiment to have, but declaring one's thanks to someone is a far better action, and expresses the sentiment in a way that is more meaningful and which both spreads and grows goodness.

This Thanksgiving I'd like to celebrate a number of things that touch me:

Thanks first of all to my wonderful wife - a true life-partner, soul-mate, my favorite companion, love of my life - I could never have asked for someone better with whom to spend my short time on Earth.  Thanks for being the person you are, and for sharing that person with me!

Thanks to my two children for reflecting so much of who my wife, myself, and our families are:  a little bit of what we would rather they not, but a whole lot more of what we wished and hoped for, with plenty of happy surprises.  You both are terrific personalities, unique yet delightfully familiar in so many ways.  You are each smart, funny, capable, and rightfully confident in yourselves.  I am thankful for the worries that we don't share with so many other parents, any number of which plagued my own mother and father.

Thanks to my mom, gone 23 years this past October, for being brave and stubborn, and for never giving up on me no matter what I tried or what stupid thing I did.  There is a good dose of that stick-to-it-ive-ness in me and in my kids.

Thanks also to my dad, who is marked by both the time and environment in which he grew up, but who nonetheless always provided for all of us, and who stimulated my interest in science.

Thanks to my mother-in-law, who has filled a place left empty by my own mother's passing in the most compassionate way; her compassion is further extended through my children and my wife.

Thanks to my father-in-law, one of the coolest and smartest people I've known, and who made me realize how important a creative outlet can be.  Also for passing on so much of himself to his daughter and also to our children, especially my son.  My father-in-law is gone now, but he is still a powerful, meaningful, and good presence in our lives.

Thanks to my brothers and my sister for being such a diverse, interesting, quirky, and fun bunch.  I'm especially thankful that my mom lives on in my sister's personality, and that we each carry on some of both our parents' personalities.

Thanks to the community in which we live - we have been supported and uplifted by those around us, and we in turn are thankful for the opportunity to offer some measure of that back through the work we do with the schools.

The extended community I'd also like to thank includes those with whom I work in my professional life.  Longevity in a career and in a particular job can on balance either add stress or add fulfillment, and I'm happy that the people around me have helped my career to afford me more of the latter.

I hope everyone reading this has as many folks to be thankful to as I do!