Bday Thanks
Date: Nov 15 Sat
Weather: 40F,raining- Belgium style!
Mileage: 20
November mileage: 302
Year to date: 2775
Birthdays are so selfish in a way. Everybody celebrate me. Everybody give me something or do something. Me, me, me. Fact is, while getting rained and and blown away in the inclement weather today I realized that on this birthday, I have much to be thankful for while turning my 39th year:
Weather: 40F,raining- Belgium style!
Mileage: 20
November mileage: 302
Year to date: 2775
Birthdays are so selfish in a way. Everybody celebrate me. Everybody give me something or do something. Me, me, me. Fact is, while getting rained and and blown away in the inclement weather today I realized that on this birthday, I have much to be thankful for while turning my 39th year:
- a loving and understanding wife
- 2 great boys, even when I want to kill them. :-)
- the health to spin the bike for 20 miles in the driving rain. Others don't have that luxury. Our good friends Joseph, Ron and Janna didn't live to see this time in life, and that's too bad.
- that my parents, with whatever relationships I have with them, are both still alive. it's great for the boys, too, to get to spend time with their abuelos. tonight's meal and ensuing wife/father fracas has tempered this but it shouldn't, i guess. so many others would like to have the family around that i have, foibles and pitfalls included (I guess...)
- a heapful of bikes. We in our house have more than anybody needs. We're comfortable, entertained with things that matter (books, CDs, legos), and could stand to miss a meal or two.
- employment. I don't always love my job, but I work with bright, dedicated people day in and out and that's more than many can say.
- and finally, among others, the rain. Why a 40F day with a driving rain? Well, b/c everything around us provides us our existence and our foundation. without our surroundings we're for naught. if I love the perfect 80F day, then i also love the rainy 40F mess. it's the world in which we live, and we should care for it and relish it as much as possible.
Comments
You have the right perspective. As financially scary as the world may be right now, your family (and mine, and most people I know) isn't really suffering. I read stories about uninsured people, families with chronically sick children, families who have to choose between food and clothes (and toys only once a year, perhaps)... We may have to tighten our belts, but we're really doing so much better than so many others. Which is why I keep trying to find ways of sharing.
Anyway, happy birthday. 39 isn't so bad. :-)
--Laura