Another day in paradise

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Regardless of your circumstances, I hope you can take a few minutes today and give thanks for all that you do have.  If your health isn't the best, just remember there are many hurting more than you.  If your pantry isn't exactly overflowing, remember there are many getting by on less.  If your roof leaks, just remember there are many whose homes have been washed away.  If your finances aren't on the most solid ground, just remember there are many who would happily trade places with you.

Just open your eyes and look around.  We all have much to be thankful for.  We just need to look for it.

Have a wonderful day,

S

HAPPY TWENTY-DOZEN!

Happy New Year, everyone!  It's that time again....time to wring out the old, wring in the new, and just move on with our lives in general.  I for one was happy to turn out the lights on 2011.  It really wasn't a bad year, but just one I'd rather not replay.


I had a small but comfortable home to live in, more than enough food to eat, reliable transportation, and a job.  It saddens me to think of all the people who didn't have one or more of those luxuries.  The only thing that really matters, of course, is that I had my wife and my health.  Both K and I and our extended families were blessed with good health all year, especially my daughter Erica who's expecting my first granddaughter in April.  She and baby "Gladys" (kidding....I hope!) are doing great.  K's dad fell and broke his hip in February, but his recovery was so speedy his doctors are still shaking their heads in amazement.  That episode barely moved the needle on the "ill-health meter".


My real heartbreak in 2011 was losing my dog, my best friend Emma Belle, just two weeks ago.  I miss her more than you'll ever know, but I do have some wonderful memories of all the good times we had during the 6+ years she was in my life.  (When I got K I also got Emma, a pretty sweet twofer, don't you think?)


Looking at things in a macro sense, the world in 2011 was like watching a train wreck in slow motion.  Earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunami's, not to mention all the man-made catastrophes around the globe, just made me shake my head.  And I'll be darned if I can see a leader anywhere, now or even on the horizon, who can put things back together.  I'm just gonna keep my head down and try to slink through 2012 unnoticed.  As long as He's looking over me, and He is, I'll be fine.


On a positive note, every new year brings hope for a better tomorrow, so maybe this will be the year where everything good just falls into place.  After recently feeling myself falling back into some old habits, I'm pledging to myself to try and live according to Teddy Roosevelt's old adage, "Do what you can, where you are, with what you have."  Lot to be said for simple living.  


So how was your 2011?  Two thumbs up, two thumbs down, or just a "pass"?


S