Friday: Things I’m Thankful For

“He’s like the hard-working, grateful employee we never had. Wish he would wear underwear, though.” – Bob’s Burgers

I don’t need coffee to wake up, I wake up to drink coffee.

It’s Friday.  Time for a happy post.  We’ll need one, because (brace yourselves) I think Monday’s post is going to be grimmer than a crab bake with Paris Hilton or father’s day with Woody Allen.

But we have today.  And when I am feeling down, a step back to realize and think about what I’m grateful for always brightens my day like a big old gravitationally contained spherical continual thermonuclear explosion.

Here goes.

  • I am thankful for you, readers near and far. I’m happy for the one-time visitors, and happy for the faithful weekly visitors to Modern Mayberry.  I had written thousands of words in a journal before I ever put a single word down on a blog.  This is better, and it’s because of you.
  • I am thankful for the really great fried potatoes The Mrs. made last night. They were very crispy on the outside, yet buttery-smooth on the inside.  A dash of ketchup to taste?

I couldn’t find the thingy that peels the potatoes so I asked Pugsley.  It turns out she’d gone off to the store.

  • I am thankful for the people that I have a chance to impact in meatspace. Hmm, that’s poorly worded, it makes it sound like I’m as bad a driver as a blind Antifa® member late to get his estrogen shots.  Let me rephrase:  I’m happy to help people in real life.  Times are tough, and they’re even tougher when people are tools on purpose, so if I can make someone’s life a little better?    Many times all it takes is real empathy and a single word.
  • I’m thankful that Pugsley forgot to take the trash out to the curb this week, so I can needle him about it (playfully) all week. Seriously, though, I’m really thankful because I haven’t had to remind him in the last six months, and he’s only missed trash day twice.
  • I’m thankful that The Boy will be down from Big State University this weekend. It’s always nice to have him around.
  • I’m thankful that sunny-side eggs taste so good. And I’m thankful that the crisp taste of a fresh tomato exploding as I bite into a cool slice on a hot day exists.  I’m grateful for the knowledge that a tomato is a fruit, and the wisdom to not put it on fruit salad.
  • I’m thankful The Mrs. We have saved each other from being very horrible spouses for other people.  After being married so long we’re like good lawyers:  we never ask a question we don’t already know the answer to.

I hear that insane people are driving trains in Mexico.  I guess they have loco-motives.

  • I’m thankful that I have had the good fortune to have had great bosses in most of my jobs. A good boss covers your back.  A great boss pulls more out of you than you ever knew you had.  One boss made the mistake of telling me to have a good day, because then I went home.
  • I’m thankful for being granted the maturity to (mostly) know when I was wrong, and to look at those times not as a personal attack, but as a hint on ways to get better.
  • I’m thankful for books. One of those great bosses that I had said, “Books are the only real way that you can talk to the greatest minds in history.”  He and I got along very well.
  • I’m thankful for the troubles I’ve had in life. Most of those troubles were like the chisel of a sculptor – they knocked off bits of me that I didn’t need, and left me better after the trouble passed.  As dead Danish dude Søren Kierkegaard said, “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”  After I learned this lesson, every time in life I encountered difficulty, I asked myself:  “What am I supposed to learn from this?”  Life got way better after I realized that what started out as a difficulty could be the greatest gift ever.

The French donated the Statue of Liberty to the United States because they had no use for a statue with only one hand up.

  • I am thankful for fuzzy slippers in winter, electric fans in summer, and good cigars all year round. Protip:  if you look up “how to light a cigar” on the Internet, you will get 80 million matches.
  • I am thankful for the innocence I had. I am thankful for the experiences that removed it.
  • I am thankful for the valor of strong men who have defined bravery and given us heroes and heroic stories to the ages. I am stronger because of Leonidas.  I am stronger because of Seneca.  I am stronger because of a certain carpenter who lived and died and rose again some 2,000 years ago.
  • I am thankful for history, and the ability to gather vast amounts of scholarship to understand the past in ways that would have been impossible for all but the most dedicated scholars until recently. What do the “good parts” of American history and common sense have in common?  They’re both being wiped from existence.
  • I am thankful for PEZ®, because now I can honestly say that I’m the man who developed the PEZ®/Anti-PEZ™ space drive (PEZ Spaceship Secrets).
  • I am thankful that the heat of summer has given way to the cool nights of autumn. I won’t miss summer.
  • I am thankful for the way a perfect ride on a motorcycle feels as the gears shift smoothly upward under full acceleration, which, for a moment, is like riding the wind.
  • I am thankful for a hot cup of coffee on a cool fall morning, on the deck, with a book, a breeze, and nothing else in the world to do.

Pugsley called me, “Severely ignorant.”  I said, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  • I am thankful for the things I don’t know.
  • I am thankful for one of our cats, not so much for the rest of them. Of course, the cat I like is the cat I wanted least.
  • I am thankful for all of my children – each of them in their own way.
  • I am thankful for a night of good sleep, and a morning where I have something exciting that pulls my head from the pillow. The Mrs. likes to lightly rub my back while I sleep, which is an amazing expression of gentleness. Unless you’re in prison.
  • I am thankful for work.
  • I am also thankful for time off.
  • I am thankful for the way my shirt smells the day after a campfire. It’s not uncommon for people to die in campfires – I mean, it’s not common, either.  I guess it’s medium rare.

What are you thankful for?

Author: John

Nobel-Prize Winning, MacArthur Genius Grant Near Recipient writing to you regularly about Fitness, Wealth, and Wisdom - How to be happy and how to be healthy. Oh, and rich.

48 thoughts on “Friday: Things I’m Thankful For”

  1. I am thankful for waking up to this crisp, sunny morning and reading our blog. It always is a good way to begin my day.

  3. I’m thankful for the eggs (especially the farm fresh fully free range ones I get) and the tomatoes, especially when I have them together at breakfast. I am thankful for all of the many blessing I receive from God which are too numerous to list. I’m also thankful for you blog and the others that I read. I appreciate the effort that you and the others put into entertaining and informing us. Keep up the good work. I need the entertainment now that I finally retired and no longer see the circus where I used to work. Glad I did. I think I left just in time. New department manager that is bad news all around.

    1. Bad bosses are the worst, since you spend every waking moment working for them.

      Thank you for the kind words!

  4. It would take me from now til Thanksgiving to list all the things I have to be thankful for, and it would still be an incomplete list.

    But there is one thing for which I am most thankful.

    In life you either have somebody that cares about you, or you are alone. And you can be all alone while surrounded by happy smiling people, all while you have a happy looking smile on your face, too.

    I am most thankful to have somebody that really, truly cares about me.

    1. That, Ricky, is worth more than all the treasure in the world. Well, maybe not *all* the treasure, since that can rent a *lot* of happiness.

  6. I’m thankful that I woke up on the right side of the sod this morning. Really liked the Dad joke about your potato peeler. Thank God I didn’t have a mouth full of coffee when I read it.

    Keep up the great work John, it is great therapy for you to write and for me to read 3 times a week. Don’t every let the Bastards grind you down!

    1. For recent thankfuls, I have finding the 3x weekly newsletter from the The Pour Over. Major headline news with a few encouraging bits thrown in. The Pour Over also connected me a really good coffee bean/grind company named donpablocoffee.com. Full flavored without the extreme bitterness that Starbucks pushes. A good cup without loading it down with stuff to hide the flavor. Nothing like a carefully brewed cup of coffee with good beans and a touch of sweetener to heighten the flavor. Molasses is the best. This coffee is similar to the Dietrich brand that Starbucks crushed a decade ago.

    2. (True story) Mikey, on Saturday The Mrs. walked into the bedroom. She pulled a bandaid out of the box. “Cut myself peeling potatoes.”

      I guess she’s broken, now.

  8. John,
    I am thankful for you. You encourage me to write and bring a smile to my face.

    1. Keep it up! Writing to me is the best mental cleanser. The Mrs. likes the podcasts, which I think are fun, too. And that’s the best compliment ever: smiles.

  9. I’m thankful for how my life has turned out thus far, being true to myself, and continuing to learn more about myself (usually from my wife). I’m thankful for realizing the personal benefit or gratifying experience of helping others and not expecting anything in return. Finally, I’m thankful for most of the same things John is, and his blog, where we all find we have much in common with one another. Cheers to all, OG

  10. I’m thankful for all the blessings I’ve received. Some came with a price, but learning from the events is, too, a blessing.

  11. I always take a moment to be thankful for hot water coming out of the tap, especially in the shower. Carrying water is a chore. I also am thankful for electric lights. I am not thankful for smart phones.

    1. That brings back camping memories. It starts tough, but gets better (water and lights).

      Won’t miss smart phones when they go away.

  12. For being granted a child against all he odds, and the time to raise her with a good man. And for the years so that the trees I planted for my her and my grandchildren are just tall enough to sit under.

    With my post workplace beverage on a balmy fall afternoon.

    *Raises a glass toward the Wilder Household*

    Thanks for the gorram awful puns! They’re absolute groaners.

    (East. Always a safe bet)

  13. “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.” I was a breech baby, my twin a normal delivery. I was born butt first and have gone through life that way, I am thankful I can swivel my head to see where the hell I am heading…

  15. I’m thankful for the Hummingbird that flew into the garage last weekend, landed on the mirror of the motorcycle
    and seemed to listen to the music that was playing. I like to think he or she came to say “See ya next year” because
    they’re all gone now…

    1. They are interesting creatures. Seem totally oblivious to humans. They fly around 2 feet from our heads on the patio with no concerns.

    2. Same here. The hummingbird feeder is away for the year. More time for hummingbirds is always a good thing.

  16. John, I find I am thankful for many of the same things you are. Some different things:

    – I am thankful for finding a martial art (Iaijutsu) that has allowed me to not just learn about sword work and allowed me to further my interest in Japan (including being able to go train on a regular basis) but to learn a great deal about myself.

    – I, too, am thankful for my readers. Anyone that invests part of their day in my writings is sacrificing some of their life to do so. It is humbling.

    – I am also thankful for our pets (one dog, one cat, two rabbits (soon to be three), two guinea pigs, and a Betta). It is amazing how much they can teach us about life.

    – I am thankful for having such good parents, especially now that, as we deal with their rapid decline and start the inevitable task of unsorting their life, one realizes yet again how unexpectedly amazing they were.

    “I’m thankful The Mrs. We have saved each other from being very horrible spouses for other people. After being married so long we’re like good lawyers: we never ask a question we don’t already know the answer to.” – Such a great deal of truth in this statement!

  17. Was blocked again for awhile but here now.

    That potatoes to kill and Irishman like me had me busting a gut out loud laughing. Dark humor again, I love dark humor. This to, “The French donated the Statue of Liberty to the United States because they had no use for a statue with only one hand up”.

    “I am thankful for the way my shirt smells the day after a campfire”.

    Some aromas, NOT SMELLS, are just unique like that. I have a few others.

    Puppy Breath – always sad when it fades away. Daughters dog has a litter so I got to experience it again for the first time in many years.

    The aroma when around a barn with horses, just fells like I’m home.

    The horse, one of Gods finest creations. Lost one a couple years ago, neighbor lost one this week that was bomb proof in her prime. I love horses and next time your around one stick you nose up by their neck and do a big inhale. It to me is the most unique aroma in all of humanity.

    I am thankful for God, family the above things and all of you here who make each day a better day and bearable till we can fix it, and we will fix it because this is the Greatest nation on Earth created by strong, wise Christian men and all of us fall within that category. Or God will fix it for us.

    May God Bless Us All

  18. Rather have a good boss and shitty job than good job and shitty boss. Had several that went either way and there is no comparison. I used to cringe going to work with a shitty boss.

  19. I too, am always thankful for another day.

    I’m thankful for my kids. I have raised two good ones. One, who puts in 50 hour weeks welding, spent his day helping the old man dig trenches for irrigation and ham radio feedlines.

    I’m thankful for my old pickup, which just keeps on going.

    I’m thankful for the guardian angel who stays resolutely perched on my shoulder, and who has saved my bacon on more occasions than I can remember.

    I’m thankful for the good decisions I’ve made, many of which appeared to be bad decisions at the time. Some of them allowed me to retire in my mid-50s. That guardian angel works overtime.

    I’m thankful for good friends, many of whom I’ve never met in person.

  20. Three hours until the monthly update on CW2. My view is that we are well into the kinetic war already, but not red vs blue per se but governments vs their own people. Of course the war has been totally one-sided with the weapon of choice being a killer vaccine. Death and casualties mount and the evil has been exposed for all who are open minded to see. Of course, there in lies the problem.

  21. I’m grateful that three decades ago, I wandered into a place I wasn’t supposed to be, and met someone who didn’t want to be there. Thus began the rest of my life. A decade and a half ago, an advisor told me, “Adults don’t to HAVE to do anything. Adults make choices.” That era started painfully, yet it freed me from toxic ties and proved in an awful way that my choices were correct. I’m thankful for my mutant progeny, may they go forth and increase in number. I marvel at the countless mistakes, happenstances, and dumb luck that have put me where I am today. I’m convinced that who we are is less about what’s happened to us, and more of how we handle what’s happed to us.

    1. Excellent! Me? I was caller number 9.

      Yup, we make choices. Sounds like a great next Friday post . . . (if I remember)

      1. Rereading my comment, I was more than a bit vague. To put the “adults make choices” into context, we felt obligated to interact with certain family members who are toxic and crazy. They were family, so we had to.

        Being told that interacting or not was a choice we were making completely changed my perspective. I didn’t HAVE to go to work every day, I chose to because I want the results of doing so. If I chose to not interact with these nutjob relatives, then I was accepting the consequences of that choice.

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