Thanksgiving

As we start into this holiday season I am always reminded that I should reflect on what has been given to me.  I should be Thankful.  It is easy for me to give thanks because I feel that I am a very rich and undeserving person.  I am rich because I have been given, two great kids, the love of a good Texas woman, and I was a fighter pilot in the United States Navy.  I can’t draw to a better hand than that, so I am thankful. 

But I can also be thankful for so much more in life.  I am thankful that I was born in this country.  Some people travel from all the corners of the world to get here to experience what we take for granted.  So I am thankful to be an American and pursue happiness and the American dream.  I am also thankful for my friends and neighbors, for my relatively good health, and for those years without struggle.  Sometimes the friction of life can weigh heavily on anyone.  But what I am thankful for mostly is something that we Americans take for granted year in and out. 

I am thankful for the young men and women that are watching over us as I write this message.  Each and every minute of the day they help to preserve our way of life through their commitment to us.  In the middle of our day, they are standing their posts in the middle of their night.  They are flying off carriers into the blackness of night.  They are hauling 40lb rucksacks up the mountains of Afghanistan. They are on mission in the 120 degree heat of Iraq.  They are sentinels, standing their watch to insure our way of life, to keep us safe, and I am thankful.  Please, as you are surrounded by family and friends this Thanksgiving, take a moment to reflect on their sacrifice to you.  God bless our young men and women in harms way.  Have a great Thanksgiving Holiday