We Americans, we fors and againsts, we have and have nots, we the so-many-of-us, we spend the whole year as neighbors in America, often with little in common, and then comes November, and our apartness is interrupted by that most American of inventions, Thanksgiving, and suddenly we are One, a population uniting and aiming for thankfulness.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s such a clean goal. Thankfulness has no yeah-but to it.\u00a0 <\/span>Everybody wins.<\/p>\n Count \u2018Em Up \u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>When you\u2019re counting blessings, and there\u2019s a big jumble up at the top, 10 or 15 things, all good, and not knowing which ones are the 1-2-3, that right there, that\u2019s a nice problem.<\/p>\n I tend to start my list with Being Alive. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I thought of myself as middle aged at 45, but once you cross 50, and now 60, that dog don\u2019t hunt no more.\u00a0 <\/span>Far better than me have gone to horizontal\u2026and this many decades in, the list of the honorable departed makes me appropriately humble.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Count Your Many Blessings<\/strong><\/p>\n Like you, I\u2019ve laughed this year, and smiled, had some good hugs, felt sincerity, felt kindness, felt love, and none of it cost a found penny on the parking lot.<\/p>\n I\u2019m thankful for forgiveness.\u00a0 <\/span>I don\u2019t know how many gallons the tank holds, or how to refill it, but I\u2019ve used some up over the years, and this year isn\u2019t even over.<\/p>\n I\u2019m thankful for aging.\u00a0 <\/span>Every decade has felt unique, as if I remain, but cannot remain the same.\u00a0 <\/span>So far, every decade is better than the last.\u00a0 <\/span>Lottery money wouldn\u2019t buy me going back.<\/p>\n Count me thankful, that I\u2019m neither rich nor poor.\u00a0 <\/span>At my lowest, I still had more than a billion of the planet\u2019s population.\u00a0 <\/span>When I\u2019ve been flush it hasn\u2019t ruined me, \u2018cause money does tend to do that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I appreciate to-do lists.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m thankful for reasons to get up in the morning.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m thankful that I\u2019ve done some good in my life, and equally thankful that I still have unfinished business.<\/p>\n I\u2019m thankful for this year.\u00a0 <\/span>The winter was cold, but not by Yankee standards.\u00a0 <\/span>Spring was early, and the azaleas were dressed for prom when most of America still had freeze warnings.\u00a0 <\/span>Summer was summer again, but I\u2019m thankful that I don\u2019t have to face it like my Louisiana ancestors did, without air conditioning.\u00a0 <\/span>We don\u2019t have much of a fall here, but if you\u2019re counting blessings, put down \u201cNo Hurricanes\u201d, and don\u2019t pronounce that timidly.<\/p>\n Politics were politics, and people were people, but America rolls on, and we are that lucky few, among all the population of earth, called citizens of the USA.<\/p>\n Keep Counting<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m thankful for tender memories.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m thankful for little moments.\u00a0 <\/span>Some of those little moments are going to visit me again, as tender memories.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>I\u2019m thankful for the optimism of wedding smiles, and the sincerity of funeral hugs.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve never been hungry this year.\u00a0 <\/span>I was sad a few times, but it passed, and right off hand, I can\u2019t remember what it was about.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ve missed some moments, but I\u2019ve had my share.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ve done the right thing, mostly.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019ve even done it when nobody would know…though I do sometimes picture my father nodding his approval.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I carry a $20 bill behind my driver\u2019s license.\u00a0 <\/span>Just in case.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m thankful that it\u2019s the same $20 I\u2019ve had for years.<\/p>\n I appreciate my health.\u00a0 <\/span>My belt is bigger, the floor is farther away, had a bad tooth, allergies get me a little, but on the whole, put me down for thankful.<\/p>\n Some people love me, some people like me, and some just put up with me, and I appreciate them all. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m thankful for those of you who read these Bedtime Stories, and especially those of you who are nice enough to thank the cook for the meal.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m working towards getting the best ones compiled into book form, in time for Christmas.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019d be honored, and thankful, if you thought about getting some for gifts.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>_\u00a0 <\/span>_\u00a0 <\/span>_\u00a0 <\/span>_\u00a0 <\/span>_\u00a0 <\/span>_\u00a0 <\/span>_ \u00a0 <\/span>_ \u00a0 <\/span>_<\/p>\n This edition of Uncle P\u2019s Bedtime Stories is brought to you by Eighty-one, where we think thankfulness is a nice thing to be full of\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n Uncle P can be reached at 81creativity@gmail.com.\u00a0 <\/span>Other Bedtime Stories can be found on the Eighty-one Facebook page.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We Americans, we fors and againsts, we have and have nots, we the so-many-of-us, we spend the whole year as neighbors in America, often with little in common, and then comes November, and our apartness is interrupted by that most American of inventions, Thanksgiving, and suddenly we are One, a population uniting and aiming for [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":279,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[59,894],"yoast_head":"\n