So in honor of the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday, I decided to dedicate today's post to the things I am most thankful for in my life. Many folks are thankful for the obvious things like food, shelter, or a good job, and I am too, but I am more thankful for the things that make me grow as a person and as a man. I am thankful for the things that make me a better father, like a 6 year old autistic boy who teaches me patience every day, and who shows me what unconditional love really is. Not on my part, but on his. The Monkey has the kindest heart, and is the most loving 6 year old boy I have ever met. Not that he isn't a handful (to be honest, he is currently stuffing a plastic chicken in my mouth while yelling about Monster Truck Mater at the top of his lungs), but he communicates his love to us in his family better in his own way than any eloquent speaker pontificating.
I am thankful for my infant son, the Piglet, who saves all his poopy diapers for his momma.(I mean, that's not why I'm thankful for him, but it sure doesn't hurt things and it gives his momma something to blog about...) This is the boy who smiles at me every time he looks at me, no matter what. This boy brings a smile to my face every morning as I get ready for work, every evening as we get ready for bed, and every time in between! He is the most amazing baby and fills our lives with so many blessings.
I am thankful for my 15 year old daughter, who has greatly contributed to the gray hairs on my head (which are mostly concentrated around my beard, since there are none on my noggin). She is really a great kid and is always willing to help out without griping or complaining, even when I can see she really wants to! She is a pleasure to be around and a joy to raise, despite the fact she is currently in Driver's Ed and driving the roads around our neck of the woods. If it doesn't make you nervous, it should.
I am thankful for my Beautiful Bride. She is the one who makes life bearable around this zoo we call home. She is the one who makes everything fit into our small house, makes that very same house a comfortable living space, and keeps this whole family running. I could not do it without her. My Bride has taken a man who had lost his direction, lost touch with who he really was, and was wondering aimlessly in life trying to figure it all out on his own. She gave this humble man a gift that so few actually can give; true happiness. I can never thank her enough for making me the man I always wanted to be.
I am thankful to have been given another day to live a wonderful life. Our family is not rich by any stretch of the imagination, not financially anyway, but we are richer than all of the millionaires in the world. Our family lives on love, and unlike money, love breeds only more love. Money can breed contempt, jealousy, and hard feelings, but real love can never be any of those things.
So needless to say (meaning I'm going to say it anyway), I am thankful. I am thankful for my Bride, our children, and for this life I get to live, poopy diapers and all.
