I have taken up the daily habit of living with sincere gratitude for each and every day I wake up. Thankfully, so far, I’ve waken up on this side of the dirt each and every day. It sure beats the alternative.
There are so many things for me to be thankful for, but the most important things are not things, but people.
I’m thankful for my family: my wife Stacia, our kids Makaya, Jacqueline and Ava Kalea. I’m thankful for my mom and her husband, my 2nd dad. I’m thankful for my father, who is gone. I’m thankful for my brothers Mike and Chris – especially that I’ve been able to spend a little time with each of them this year. I’m grateful for my sister Jen and her awesome family, even though we have seen each other in several years.
I’m also extremely thankful for my friends. Like my father before me, I don’t have a lot of friends, but I truly cherish the friends that I do have. Ray and Patty, Mark, Michelle, Tim, Gary and Rolf have all been amongst the best friends I have ever had and I know that they have my back and I have theirs. I’m also super thankful to have bumped into my old friend Volodymyr at the beach yesterday. We had not seen each other in 4 or 5 years and it was really good to catch up.
Today I am thankful that Stacia signed our family up for the Del Mar Family Fun Run at the Del Mar Horse Track. We got to run a full mile around the track at the famous Del Mar Track – “Where the Surf Meets the Turf”. Perhaps it will be our new family tradition?
I’m also thankful that I chose not to eat the Yum Yum donuts provided at the fun run. How did they choose that sponsor anyway? I shouldn’t bitch, because everyone else seemed to enjoy theirs – especially Ava … (she savored it for about an hour or more).
After we returned home from the racetrack, I had the opportunity to get in a really decent workout. I’m so thankful for the time to do it, the gym at our apartment complex and excellent health that has made it possible to exercise hard and start to get back into shape. I still have a little more than 5 weeks to reach my end of the year goal.
I’m also thankful for The Presidents of the United States of America – including Chris Ballew, Jason Finn, original guitarist Dave Dederer and most recent guitarist Andrew McKeag. They provided the music for my workout this morning and even though they quit playing as a band in 2016, their music and the live shows I got to see when they were together are some of the best entertainment ever.
As far as some of the awesome technology that we get to enjoy these days, I am especially grateful for YouTube Premium and YouTube Music. With these services, Ava Kalea has been able to watch and listen to content in Spanish and Mandarin, as well as English. With YouTube music, I’ve been able to listen to almost any kind of music that I am in the mood for – as well as a lot of great educational and motivational content.
I’m always grateful to live here in Del Mar and just a couple of blocks from the edge of the world.
In summary, I am probably the luckiest person in the world and am so very thankful for so many things this Thanksgiving. I am especially thankful for YOU taking your valuable time to read this post ….
