Things For Which I Am Grateful

This year, 2020, has been a difficult year in many respects. Coronavirus has taken the lives of three people from our larger circle of friends and family. Linda, Bryan and Sarah also had the virus, with Linda having to be hospitalized. We can't see our family as much as we'd like, being unable to travel to The Netherlands at all, and being limited in whom else we can see, at various times, due to potential exposure or travel to highly-infected states. We were unable to take our family to Hawaii for the same reason, thereby negating a family vacation that could have been, well, monumental. 

Having said the above, though, there is an awful lot to be thankful for. 

I am grateful for the love of God, who, I believe, has watched over me my entire life. I am amazed by Your presence in my life. Truly, I shall, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise [and] give thanks to him and praise his name."

I am grateful to my birth mother for giving me a chance at life, and for courageously making the decision to put me up for adoption. I am extraordinarily glad to have connected with her after all these years.

I am grateful to the parents who raised me in a wonderful setting in the suburbs, guiding me through my early years, providing a wonderful example of what it meant to be a loving family. I am thankful to have a sister, raised in that same setting with me, and to have four half-siblings (though two may not yet know I exist).

I am grateful for my wife, Nancy, the center of my life, who has stayed with me through good times and bad, through a difficult illness and through whom all the good things in my life have come. I will always be there for you, as you have been for me.

I am grateful for my children, Kerry (and her husband Luke and daughter Elsie Bea), Andy, Amy (and her husband Matt and their children Clara and Henrik), and Timmy (and his wife Kate and their son Sam). I pray that I was able to teach you things you could use to help navigate your way through life, and I'm proud of each of you. I receive much more in return from you than I have ever given. 

I am grateful for our extended family, and to the aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews who have influenced my life, including many who have now passed on to God's Heaven. Though we are sometimes far apart, ranging from The Netherlands back across the world to Singapore, I am happy and thankful that we can continue to communicate using today's modern technology. And though we may have our disagreements, at times, regarding how the world and this United States should be run, I am thankful to have known each and every one of you.

I am grateful for the fur-babies that have shown me unconditional love: our latest, Hazel; the "Mighty Pug Trio", Lucy, Sally and Rocky; my friend Bo. I know that Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given to you"; I only pray that these friends will be waiting for me when my time comes.

I am grateful for my employers, who gave me opportunities to learn and grow, and without whom I could not have retired this year. Thank you to the A&P, SS Kresge, Penray, Metropolitan Life, Kemper and Hollister. I was given the chance to work for you; I pray I did the job you expected from me, and perhaps more. 

I am grateful for the opportunity to retire this year. These first six months have been interesting, to say the least. I pray that I will find chances to give back to my community, using the skills and abilities I have.

I am grateful for our church and, especially, the Sing A New Song group of which I'm part. I am thankful God gave me musical ability and a love of song. I pray that my efforts to praise God in music are pleasing to Him, and to the congregation.

I am grateful to live in this country, the United States of America, truly the home of the free. I am thankful for those leaders who have brought us through the worst of times - Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan - and pray that God bestows enlightened leadership upon those who follow. I am thankful that I get a voice in the selection of our leaders, that I can express my opinions without fear of government persecution, that I can move about the world freely, and that I can worship God in the manner I choose.

I am grateful for the friendships I have, old and new, ranging from people I knew in grade school, through high school, Nancy's large group of "college girls", neighbors (old and new), people I've met through the kid's schools, folks from church, and the many co-workers with whom I've collaborated over the years. I am thankful to have become friends with my children's in-laws, and to have been welcomed into their extended families as we have welcomed them into ours. 

I am grateful to be in good health, and for the physicians, nurses, technicians and other staff members who helped me recover from cancer three years ago. I am thankful for my wife's continued health, as well, and for the tremendous care she has received over the years.

Finally, I am grateful for the seasons of the year: 

For quiet Winter nights, outside, when the air is crisp and cold, each breath taken in is like inhaling liquid oxygen, the wind lightly brushes your cheek, and the stars are shining down and reflected back by a layer of new-fallen snow, unmarked by boot or dog's paw; 

 

For Spring, when Winter's white melts into the ground, and majestic thunderstorms roll through, lighting up the sky and filling the ears with its power; when the grass turns so green it pains the eyes, the smell of the awakening plant-life fills the air and the promise of new life is everywhere;

For the warmth of the Summer sun, its light lasting long into the evening, for lazy white clouds hanging so low in the sky it's as if you can reach out and touch them, and for the water of sea or lake which cools skin warmed by the all-enveloping sunlight; when the land delivers its bounty in the first sweet corn, green beans and peppers and reminds us of the good Lord's provision;

For Autumn, when leaves are displayed as if a coat of many colors, and the dusty aroma of the burning leaf-pile returns one to days of childhood; when mornings are crisp, afternoons are beautiful and the cooling evening is perfected by a bonfire; when orchards deliver sweet, ripe apples that can be picked and eaten right from the trees;

With much love to you, my fellow travelers-through-life!