We need more posts like this around here.

I have precious little to be thankful for, but what I do have, I am very thankful for.



I make half of what I did ten years ago, My newest and most valuable vehicle is twelve years old and quickly approaching 200K. My house is a step and a half up from a shack in the woods, but it keeps the rain off our heads and the wind out. Most months we struggle to keep food on the table, but so far there has always been enough, even if just. I work full time, and spend several evenings a week doing side work for cash, by spring I will probably have to take a second job on the weekends and nights, maybe even full time.



The economy is shit, better job prospects are a pipe dream even with my college degree in a useful field. My taxes are going up, even though I don't make anywhere near 250K. I could find 200K in the street tomorrow and still wouldn't be close to making 250K this year.



All that said, I have a great family, a wife who still loves me after 17 years, three kids who could be the poster children for the perfect American family, healthy, fit, good looking, well behaved, socially adept, and interested in self reliance. I wish I was able to give them more, but they don't complain, once in a while they will ask for things that we just can't afford, and have never thrown tantrums when they didn't get what they asked for, although it did have to be disappointing for them.



Less than a year ago a close family member of mine lost everything he owned, and much of what he loved in a fire. His young son was killed, his daughter was injured so badly that she will never grow up, she will never go to school, she will never fall in love with Justin Beiber or 1 Direction, she will never beg her daddy to take her to Build a Bear or the Mall. How he has managed to carry on I do not know, but he has. I look to that and realize that no matter how shitty I have it, I have so much more to be thankful for than I will ever be able to appreciate.



For those who are celebrating times of plenty, enjoy your holiday and don't forget to be thankful for the important things. For those with little to celebrate, enjoy your holiday and don't forget to be thankful for the important things.



There are few guarantees in this life, but if you are lucky your family is a guarantee that you will always be welcome, that you will always have a place, that you will always have a friend. You may have a hoard of riches to be envied, but if you have nobody to share it with you are far poorer than I am, and I wouldn't trade with you for a second.