My Thirty Days of Thanks...23 through 27...Gratefulness Unexpected

As we enter the Christmas season, my thirty days of  thankfulness continues in the most unexpected places.  Today I am thankful for:

The gals and me at the football game

Don't be a curmudgeon
while you're watching
the game!

Day 23:  Football:  I know what you're thinking.  You're thinking, Isn't this the guy who was always picked last for any team in gym class because he couldn't throw, hit, run, or even look the least bit coordinated on a field of any kind? Isn't this the guy who watched the Super Bowl for the commercials and the half-time show, usually dozing before the end of the first quarter?  Isn't this the guy who realized halfway into the second period of his daughter's soccer games that the teams switched sides, and the goalies switched goals?  Yes, that's me.  Well, today they put me in a donated suite on the 50-yard line with my wife and daughter, several of my daughter's friends and colleagues from her college days, and lots of good food and beverage, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching a bunch of red and orange clad football players run from one end of the field to the other.  I listened to a whole roomful of football connoisseurs following the lead of a group of nuns in the front row of seats in the suite crying FOUL! when the players didn't do as they wanted them to do.  I enjoyed the view and the company of a very special guy who was there for us during our family's losses these past few years, I met some new friends, and, of course, I partook of the abundance.  I wasn't a curmudgeon while watching this game...or, at least, I tried not to be one, but they kept stopping that clock all the time!  That clock was one of my focal points...nothing like a descending digital counter  to keep me calm.  I tried not to say things that made my wife chuckle and my daughter shake her head.  I did well, because it only happened a few times during the whole game!  So, yes, thanks for football! 

Our view...Photos by Karen

The youngest of the new generation
at our Thanksgiving celebration

Day 24:  Remembering the Day - Two days after Turkey Day, I am thankful for those who were no longer at our holiday table, for their absence  reminded me how important they are and how much they still mean to me...I will always miss them; for those who continue to grace the room with their presence, for they are the present...the providers of the feast and the venue, and the enablers of the celebration; and now for the newcomers, the children and their significant others, and the next generation...the blessing of children that are a sign that things can continue.  

Day 25:  Boring Sundays:  Today there were no plans after three days of jam-packed activity, visiting and visitors. Today, with the church obligation being fulfilled on Saturday evening, and the exhaustion of the increased noshing and socializing being on hold for a bit, nothing is scheduled.  If I feel like going to the basement and unpacking the Christmas decorations and supplies, I will.  If not, it'll happen next week.  If I want to throw in a load of laundry, I will.  If not, it'll still be there tomorrow.  If we choose to watch some television, we will.  The house smells like the beginnings of a giant pot of beef vegetable soup courtesy of Jackie.  I am truly thankful for lazy, schedule-free, comfort-filled Sundays!

Day 26:  Facebook:  Not the kind with all the political jokes and jabs, and not the kind with the prayers and Pinterest (What the heck is that, anyway?), not the kind with the apps and arguments, or the kind with dog rescues and deal retrievals, or even the kind with groups and games.  While these are all sometimes fun and informative, I am happiest with the Facebook that has enabled me to reconnect with seven classmates in February of this year, and now today, with a good friend who was in my wedding.  Though we lost touch in recent years, a simple Facebook message brought us to a lunch full of reminiscing about times spent with each other's families, and out and about, back in the '70's and early '80's.  I had never even thought that we'd locate each other, but today, we were having lunch in a little family restaurant, and  updating each other on our childhood families, and on our current families, and just talking as if nearly 30 years hadn't passed since we'd seen each other.  I think we both turned out fine.  Thank you Facebook, for bringing the best thing about social media into both our homes and allowing us to reconnect!

Day 27:  Exaggerated weather forecasts:  I am thankful for the result of a meteorologist who overdoes the forecasting for the anticipated snowstorms, for I prefer to drive to work, not slide, and I prefer to go to school in the winter, not during Spring Break or during the summer...and the old man prefers to have NO SNOW!