Far from Home on Thanksgiving

Home currently rests about two thousand miles to my West.  I’ve got a lot to be thankful for, though, and I guess that calls for a blog post.

I am thankful for my family; for the generations that have gone before mine and the generations up and coming.  I was lucky enough to know my maternal great-grandmother and great-grandfather; from the incredible example of a proper loving family life given to me by Ines and Guy Saltzgeber, through Floryl and George Reiber and Ellen and William Corum, I am thankful for the love passed from one generation to the next and the next.  With my wife Annalisa, I hope that my son Andrew will continue to take this love and carry it into the future.  No pressure, though.

Likewise, sharing this example with me is my brother Steve and his wife Linda, and they carry forward with their children Jennifer, Heather, and Danae, and THEIR significant others and children.  Good lord, I’m a great-Uncle.

I am thankful for my friends, including (but in no way limited t0) Lisa, Kyrene, Vic, Alan, Josh, Dave, the other Dave, Mike, Ross, Brian, Harry, Paul, Wayne, the other Wayne, Cameron, Jacob, Jeremy, Nick, Rachel, Sharon, John, Sean, Carinn, and the scores of people who have sought me out as the result of the documentary I was featured in.  My family (see above) taught me to treat people as my friends, and my friends as family.  I am thankful for all of these people in my life; for their counsel and companionship, for their example and their inspiration.

I am thankful for the life I am able to lead at the moment; though it lacks a certain amount of the financial success I would like, it is a life that affords me the freedom to explore my creative pursuits and the freedom to travel extensively to help friends in need.  I am thankful for the generosity of those who contribute to my professional pursuits, and I am thankful for everyone who has ever bought any of my work.  And those people that aren’t entirely kind or considerate when they voice opinions about my work on the internet?  I’m thankful for them, as well.  I may not always like to hear the criticisms, but I will always try to use them to make a better product.

I am thankful for the many cultural contributions to my personal inspiration; for the works of fiction and non-fiction in film, television, and literature that drive me to continue to create, and keep me filled with excitement and hope (I’m lookin’ at you, Doctor Who…)

I am thankful for the doctors and medical administrators who work to keep me alive and heading towards being healthy; I’m apologetic that their work is so hard.  I’ll try to not eat more pie than is absolutely necessary, this evening.

I am thankful for any attention that this blog receives, and so thank you, dear readers.  Now I’m going to go be thankful for a warm fire in a cold back yard, a telephone with which to call my family, and old episodes of Top Gear on Netflix.

A happy and thankful Thanksgiving to you all!