What I'm thankful for...

This being Thanksgiving, it seems only natural to spend some time reflecting on what I'm grateful for in this life. There are certainly things for which I'm grateful that are material (e.g., a roof over my head, reliable transportation, food on my table and in my refrigerator), but most of what I give thanks for is non-material and intangible.

Such things include abstractions such as life itself, as well as the experience of having my life stripped from me six years ago and later returned to me. Perhaps I will have to wait until I'm an older man before I fully understand how much the experience of going through the leukemia and bone marrow transplant has impacted my life. For the time being, however, I can say that I have some sense of the import of the experience of traveling to the edge of life and then returning.

I'm also grateful for the opportunities I have to work and to use the talents and skills that I've developed. Doing such work, like that which I've done for the "Brookings Register," other newspapers and for the books I've been writing, is helping me to further sharpen my skills. And those skills, I'm sure, will serve me well throughout the rest of the life.

Above all others, however, I'm most grateful for the various people who have populated my life over the years. These various people have taken the forms of friends and relatives. And in many instances, people who start out as friends later enter into a territory where the line between "friend" and "relative" becomes indistinct. In any case, I give thanks for having these people in my life and for helping me grow. I've truly been blessed by them, and I hope that being a part of their lives has been good for them, too.

In closing this post, I'd like to share a poem that I wrote about a year ago. It speaks primarily of the impact that different people have had on my life, but I think that it also gives insight into how other things for which I'm thankful have left their marks on me. Enjoy.

Looking Back While Moving Forward

I sit in this lonely space
enveloped in plastic and glass
as I steer my steely steed through the toothy night
The reddish glow of gauges, rock roaring out of speakers
and starlight peeking through the clouds
punctuate the miles and darkness that lie ahead
In this space, in this time
I find myself looking back upon those who have impacted me
who have helped forge the man I am today
Some of them still walk the earth cocooned in flesh as I do
while others have shed this earthly chrysalis
and gone to dwell with those who came before them
To these people, whether I’ve known you as mother or father
brother or sister
friend or foe
I wish you peace and love
and offer thanks to you and for you
for helping me be the man I am today