Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving. Time to reflect on things.Even though I get mad about the store, careless people and my life in general, I'm pretty lucky.I'm thankful for having a good family, having had a good childhood and a good education. I have many fond memories of my life growing up in Michigan. I'm thankful for having been in love and having been loved, even though it never lasted. Many people never experience what I have and there is still hope that I will again.I'm thankful for the few good friends that I have. Even though I often wish for more, the ones I have, stand by me and have tried to support me no matter how bad things have gotten. I think they believe in me and respect my efforts to do the right thing and to do things well - even though I often fall short.I'm thankful for my business and doing what I love, even though the pay sucks. It's not easy to start a business from scratch, maintain it and then build it up. My current employees are not perfect, but they are honest and sincere. I think that keeping them on has helped them to grow. It would have been much easier to have never hired them or to have let them go, but I've seen them mature and grow from the experience of working for me and I've learned from them, as well.Although my father has been dead for three years and even though his death was tragic and premature, I am thankful that I got the chance to know him better before he died. Even though his last few years were full of anxiety, confusion and pain, I believe he knew that I loved him and wanted to help him, even though I could never find a way.Although my mother can be burden and even though she unintentionally drives me crazy at times, I know she is lonely and suffering. I am happy that I can be here to help her as she ages and slowly loses her abilities. She has always been a good mother to me and I've yet to meet anyone who is as kind and loving to her family and nearly everyone that she meets.Finally I am thankful for my health and for the success that I enjoy. My success has never been financial, but I am able to barely afford a decent place to live in a beautiful area of California while I try to make some of my dreams come true. I am also grateful that I understand that it is the journey that matters, not the destination. None of us ever truly reach a destination and if we could, we would wither and die, but at least some of us try to enjoy the experience of being alive - even though life is an equal portion of sorrow and joy - neither lasts long enough to be completely overtaken by the other.Happy Thanksgiving to the one person who may read this and the billions who will not.