I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving today. For all the men, I hope your wives/girlfriends let you stuff yourself with extra helping of turkey and gravy, have that second or third helping of pumpkin pie, and fall asleep in front of the TV watching your favorite football team destroy their opponent. For all the women, I hope your husbands/boyfriends get off their lazy butts and help you clean up the house, cook the dinner and do the dishes — after all it is his mother you’re cooking for, right? Mostly, I hope everybody has something specific they can honestly say they’re thankful for. If you don’t, you’re doing it wrong.
I, like always, am thankful for just about everything in my life. I have an awesome wife whom I love dearly, two little boys who give my life more meaning than I ever thought possible, a job I actually enjoying going to in the morning, and a bill of health that seems to keep improving. I’ve been blessed beyond reason.
Keeping with a silly tradition I started a few years back, and because I have been so blessed and have so much to be thankful for, for the purposes of this post its more advantageous for me to list off the few things that I have NOT been thankful for this past year. In no particular order they are:
The Price of Coffee
The McDonalds downstairs from where I work is just about the only location in my area that is not participating in the $1 for any size cup of coffee promotion. I’m paying an extra $.62 (after tax) for every cup purchased there… and they know I need the coffee — they’re doing it on purpose.
Nancy Pelosi
She made history by being America’s first female Speaker of the House, but her legacy will be one look down upon with disdain. From T.A.R.P. and bank bailouts, to stimulus spending and a bill that, if left intact, will be the death of the greatest health care system the world has ever know, Nancy Pelosi has been at the center of America’s decline for the past four years. Her hypocritical and narcissistic self view demands her life remain unchecked while balances are placed on all of ours.
I’m thankful that at the time of writing, her days in her position of power are severely limited thanks to this years mid-term elections.
Ear Infections
Logan has been combating a nasty ear infection for the past month. We have an appointment with an ENT specialist about it, and he/she is most likely going to recommend he get tubes in his ears.
Logan is fine with all of this so far, he’s really taking most of it on the chin. But it is hard not to feel bad when he looks up at me holding his ears and says, “Daddy, I don’t feel good. My ears hurt.” Hopefully we’ll get this resolved quickly.
The Straw Man
This guys has been dragged out into the streets of America and nearly beaten to death by the current administration — especially in regards to health care. If I had a dime for everytime President Obama started a comment with “There are those who say…” and then proceeded with his argument without providing any specifics of the “those” in question, I would be a wealthy, wealthy man.
From this point forward, I’ve made the decision to automatically dismiss any straw man arguments. If you’re argument can’t stand up to even the most basic ridicule, such as source citing, it’s not worth entertaining.
Personal Physical Ailments
I rarely like to use my website as a pedestal to complain, and I hope you don’t perceive this item as such. I would rather prefer that you see this as what I’m attempting to make it out to be; a rare opportunity where I’m being open and candid about a person struggle of mine. It is not my intent to garnish sympathy, but instead have hopes I might draw a sense of appreciation for what could be had.
Purely physically speaking, this has been a hard year for me. Over the past 12 months, especially so about 8 months ago, there has rarely been a day gone by where I haven’t experience some form of physical pain. From needing heart medications, controlled substance pain killers, to pills for my stomach and muscle relaxers — the side effects of the chemo therapy and radiation treatments I received almost five years ago have taken a toll on my body. I feel they’re aged me well beyond where I should be.
Emotionally speaking, the physical ailments have sentenced my usual high spirits down to the The Slough of Despond. There have been days where I’ve felt it’s taken everything out of me just to get out the door and get to work. There have been nights when I’ve been so lost in my mind’s labyrinth I’ve been unable to sleep.
But praise God I’ve recently begun to find relief! The past couple of months I’ve been taking drastic action, both for my physical and mental well being. I am happy to say that my day to day outlook is consistently becoming brighter. Due to a strict vitamin and medication regiment, I’ve been feeling better and seeing things more clearly. If anything, I’m kicking myself for not taking these “drastic measures” sooner.
Lack of Time
Time waits for no man, but I wish time was more abundant. There is too much I want to do! Too many places I want to go, too many things I’d like to see, too many books to read, too many movies to watch, too many things I want to get done. It seems that there are never enough minutes in an hour, or hours in the day. If only I didn’t need to sleep…
So that’s my list. Short, sweet, and only half serious. I’m just to thankful for what I have to spend too much time focusing on what I don’t. How about you? What are you thankful for this year? OR, what are you NOT thankful for?
