Thank You

Please pass the gravy ...

Thanks

For the sound of children laughing

For all the extra years that I never expected to be given

For all those teachers who led me by the hand to knowledge

To the doctors and medical experts who helped cure my many maladies

To my family and friends who have loved me despite my behavioral flaws

To all the tradespeople who helped keep my living spaces livable

For the bounty of the great country into which I luckily was born

To all those people who gave their lives to keep the rest of us free

To the merchants who endeavor to supply us with great products and services

For all those many pets which gave me unquestioned love and companionship

To all the animals and plants which give us sustenance ... including today's turkey

For still having enough mental faculties to realize all these bestowed benefits

Thanks ...

Governor Moonbeam ...

Giving Thanks

This Thursday's trenchermen (trencherpersons?) would never sit still at our Thanksgiving table for me to enumerate all the things I am thankful for at this difficult time in our history ... so I will burden you, poor reader, with my list:

- a populous awakening in this country to many of the things that seem seriously awry ... as demonstrated by the Tea Party and, yes, even in their perversity, by the Occupiers

- all my beautiful grandchildren ... and the hope that I have for their bright and healthy futures (much of which I will probably never witness)

- all my children and their spouses who have produced these wonderful grandchildren and who are so carefully molding their lives within a creative and moral  template

- my wife, Jeanette, who has been such a great mother, grandmother, and life partner.  She has tirelessly toiled to create for me a wonderful home and make me a better person than I otherwise would have been

- the legacy that previous generations of Americans have left to us (in particular those who have given their lives) so that we can experience our national uniqueness and the best standard of living in history

- those (very) few politicians who had put their country ahead of their personal interests ... Ronald Reagan and Harry Truman, in particular, come to mind

- a leftover turkey sandwich bulging with stuffing, cranberry sauce, and lots of Hellmann's mayonnaise