Thanks

When I was a better person (read younger, less tired, unburdened by dirty clothes, smelly kids, and my inevitable lack of meal planning), I would send a thank you card to someone every day of November leading up to Thanksgiving. Well, that hasn’t happened for quite some time, although I often remember the effort, spurred by a sermon of Rev. Phillip McClendon.

Now, usually about the third or fourth day of November I start thinking about things and people I’ve been thankful for throughout the course of the past year. Here are a few that struck me recently.

*Voting: not just the freedom to vote for whomever I wish, but the ability to stand in line with friends and neighbors in a church basement in Neosho, at 6:15 in the morning, joking and laughing, unconcerned about who we’ll all cast a ballot for – simply glad we’re there, with the only danger being the simple lack of caffeine from treading out so early.

*Dental floss – don’t ask my why, but recently I was challenged to consider the origins of dental floss and by golly it just got me. I couldn’t live without floss and am thankful there are plenty of varieties available on about any stores’ shelves.

*A couple of folks I worth with – Wendy, who always laughs at my jokes and provides plenty of very clever humor herself. Between the two of us, we bewilder the engineers, especially when we collapse in laughter at our own jokes not being able to move until we catch our breath. The other co-worker is Gary, the little brother I never had. We have an ongoing competition- who can be the biggest yes-man/woman. I’m currently losing He is my superior in this effort.

*The election night music they use to play on KBTN radio. I can’t help but hum that tune to myself on any election night. You know the tune – they played it right before they would go to Dave broadcasting from the Newton County Courthouse or from whoever was broadcasting from McDonald County. When you heard the music you knew to turn up the radio and listen for the precinct counts. I ran into Dave Winegardner Tuesday evening, right after I had been humming the KBTN election night jingle on my way home, but forgot to tell him thanks.

*My AlphaSmart writing pad. It’s a small portable keypad/word processor I bought off Ebay for under $50. I can type on it from the comfort of the recliner, in the car, from bed, on the back deck, anywhere. Then plug in a USB cable and my text is sent to our computer. I like low-tech.

Most importantly thank you to everyone who’s commented on this column. You’ve made my week, my day, and my year. And thank you to all Big Al’s Rotary buddies who always make sure he’s adequately ribbed over that week’s column. We’ve had some very good laughs.