What I'm grateful for

Here in the States on the fourth Thursday in November we have a holiday called Thanksgiving. It supposedly dates back to the 1600's or earlier when the Pilgrims came to America and needed help from the native American people. We celebrate that event by eating tons of food with family or friends and watching football on television.

Another custom, not practiced by everyone, but done by many is giving thanks or revealing what one is grateful for. It's another excuse to grovel for God and my family is no exception. God was always the No. 1 reason for being thankful and grateful. Every year it's like this and every year I write something like this:

I wanted to write what I'm thankful for as well. As I grow older I find I'm thankful for the wonderful genes my parents passed down to me. At 46 I'm still very active and able to play tennis within carefully thought out parameters. I'm reasonable healthy but feel the effects of gravity and over use everyday, so I'm thankful to the scientists that have designed drugs to allow me to continue to be physical relatively pain-free.

Here's the big one. You can equate this to your gratefulness in God. I'm very grateful for my husband and the hard work he does to allow us to live the way we do. He has very carefully managed his education, his time, and his energies to maximize his earning potential. I am aware of this situation and help to make this possible for him by keeping our household as stress free as possible. In other words, I'm not a drama queen.

I'm also grateful for the many friends I have that keep me honest. What I mean by that is my friends are intellectually stimulating and keep me from getting lazy in my skeptical thinking. I want to thank Sheila (a distant cousin) for being a friend in spite of our differing religious views. I'm grateful that you didn't stop emailing me and realize that being an atheist doesn't mean I'm a bad and evil person. I admire the strength of your faith and your willingness to talk about it without getting defensive. I know it's been difficult at times but you hung with me and I'm happy and grateful to call you my friend. We have both benefited from this wonderful relationship and it gives me hope for the future. Thanks!

I'm grateful for a great many other things too. Too many to account for here.

Peace and have a great Thanksgiving!