But it’s just too important for me to miss.  We (hubby and I) have so much to be thankful for, this year and every year.  We both have been incredibly fortunate to have kept our jobs all through the financial crisis period after 2007, and even advanced.  Hubby will celebrate 38 years at Big Aerospace Company in January, and I will celebrate 10 years at Supplier to Big Aerospace Company on January 2.  I was absolutely convinced that I would be toast when our big layoff came in November of 2008, since I had been there less than a year, but nope, I was spared.  We sure had something to be thankful for that year!

We are so lucky to have been born in this Greatest Nation on God’s Green Earth (hat tip to Michael Medved), whose exceptionalism nurtures native-born and immigrant alike.  We have been allowed to make our own way, choosing our own careers and living arrangements, with minimal interference from the Big Brother State (even though it was touch-and-go during the Obama years).  And we never take for granted all the benefits of living in a country governed by a Constitution which protects our right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.  No country, ever, in the entire history of humanity on Earth has ever been as prosperous and free as the United States of America, and I give thanks for that every single day.

This year, I give special thanks to God for the tenuous health of my brother-in-law, who suffers from end-stage liver disease.  He is on the waiting list for a liver transplant, which could give him many more years of life.  Just think, this benefit has only been available for tens of years, and was developed right here in the USA (along with many other places).  It has been difficult for brother-in-law, but he is still around and livening up the holiday meal.

We give thanks for our beautiful cat, Kikyo, who keeps us smiling with her antics.  I love sitting, reading, with her on my lap purring.  Even when she has to go to the vet for a checkup, she explores the exam room and captivates the tech and the doctor.

I was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, one of the most beautiful places on the planet, and I never forget how magnificent our mountains, lakes, and prairies are.  We travel all over the state in our private automobile, taking advantage of our Liberty.

We give thanks for our fellow men, who help us every day, who build, maintain, and inspire all the infrastructure around us.  Whenever we drive over Stevens Pass to Leavenworth on US Highway 2, I always marvel at the ingenuity of the road-builders whose work enables us to drive in comfort many miles without even thinking about it.

We thank God and our families, friends, and fellow Americans, past and present, for allowing us to prosper, and live comfortably in the greatest, most unusual nation ever conceived by men on Earth.  Oh, yeah, and thanks to God for putting us on this beautiful planet in the first place!

[Featured Image by Michael Ramirez]