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Thanksgiving and gratitude


Jimmy Neutron
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With November upon us, the month of the great Thanksgiving holiday, I thought I'd throw down a challenge to all of you.

 

Each day this month, thinik of something you are grateful for. If you feel like sharing, great - post it here. You may inspire others to feel gratitude for some richness in their own life. Thank your God if you are so inclined, and/or thank those around you that bless your lives every day.

 

I'll kick off with a story I heard recently:

Gordon tells how he grew up on a farm in Canada, where he and his siblings had to hurry home from school while the other children played ball and went swimming. Their father, however, had the capacity to help them understand that their work amounted to something. This was especially true after harvesttime when the family celebrated Thanksgiving, for on that day their father gave them a great gift. He took an inventory of everything they had.

 

On Thanksgiving morning he would take them to the cellar with its barrels of apples, bins of beets, carrots packed in sand, and mountains of sacked potatoes as well as peas, corn, string beans, jellies, strawberries, and other preserves which filled their shelves. He had the children count everything carefully. Then they went out to the barn and figured how many tons of hay there were and how many bushels of grain in the granary. They counted the cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, and geese. Their father said he wanted to see how they stood, but they knew he really wanted them to realize on that feast day how richly God had blessed them and had smiled upon all their hours of work. Finally, when they sat down to the feast their mother had prepared, the blessings were something they felt.

 

Gordon indicated, however, that the Thanksgiving he remembered most thankfully was the year they seemed to have nothing for which to be grateful.

 

The year started off well: they had leftover hay, lots of seed, four litters of pigs, and their father had a little money set aside so that someday he could afford to buy a hay loader—a wonderful machine most farmers just dreamed of owning. It was also the year that electricity came to their town—although not to them because they couldn’t afford it.

 

One night when Gordon’s mother was doing her big wash, his father stepped in and took his turn over the washboard and asked his wife to rest and do her knitting. He said, “You spend more time doing the wash than sleeping. Do you think we should break down and get electricity?” Although elated at the prospect, she shed a tear or two as she thought of the hay loader that wouldn’t be bought.

 

So the electrical line went up their lane that year. Although it was nothing fancy, they acquired a washing machine that worked all day by itself and brilliant lightbulbs that dangled from each ceiling. There were no more lamps to fill with oil, no more wicks to cut, no more sooty chimneys to wash. The lamps went quietly off to the attic.

 

The coming of electricity to their farm was almost the last good thing that happened to them that year. Just as their crops were starting to come through the ground, the rains started. When the water finally receded, there wasn’t a plant left anywhere. They planted again, but more rains beat the crops into the earth. Their potatoes rotted in the mud. They sold a couple of cows and all the pigs and other livestock they had intended to keep, getting very low prices for them because everybody else had to do the same thing. All they harvested that year was a patch of turnips which had somehow weathered the storms.

 

Then it was Thanksgiving again. Their mother said, “Maybe we’d better forget it this year. We haven’t even got a goose left.”

 

On Thanksgiving morning, however, Gordon’s father showed up with a jackrabbit and asked his wife to cook it. Grudgingly she started the job, indicating it would take a long time to cook that tough old thing. When it was finally on the table with some of the turnips that had survived, the children refused to eat. Gordon’s mother cried, and then his father did a strange thing. He went up to the attic, got an oil lamp, took it back to the table, and lighted it. He told the children to turn out the electric lights. When there was only the lamp again, they could hardly believe that it had been that dark before. They wondered how they had ever seen anything without the bright lights made possible by electricity.

 

The food was blessed, and everyone ate. When dinner was over, they all sat quietly. Wrote Gordon:

 

“In the humble dimness of the old lamp we were beginning to see clearly again. …

 

“It [was] a lovely meal. The jack rabbit tasted like turkey and the turnips were the mildest we could recall. …

 

“… [Our] home … , for all its want, was so rich [to] us.” - Gordon Green, circa 1959

 

I am most grateful for my family. I have a beautiful, loving wife and four terrific, healthy kids. They help make my life wonderful and also a little crazy. Life would be boring and comparitively empty with out them. I love them all something fierce and count them as my greatest blessing.

 

So the challenge is thrown down my Huddle Nation friends. Share something positive from your life, if only to get yourselves to think of something positive in the midst of all the angry and frustrating stuff we all express here.

 

Cheers :wacko:

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Very much looking forward to and thankful for Thanksmas coming at the end of the month. It's the only time my siblings and parents will be able to get together in one place for the holidays, so we're celebrating both Thanksgiving and Christmas in one long weekend.

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I don't know if I'll be able to do one a day because there will be days I'm not on-line primarily due to hunting, soccer tournaments, and other activities over some long weekends, but I'll try to do one each day I'm here. I'm sure most will center around family, and won't put them in any particular order, just what I'm thinking that day. Since I spent a good deal over at my grandfather's house yesterday I'll start with him.

 

My grandfather was the oldest of 5 children. He was born on a small farm near Canton Texas in the fall of 1918. His father was a share cropper and part time handyman. They all lived in what today would be considered a 2 bedroom shack. The parents in one bedroom, the girls in another, and my grandfather and his brother slept on the floor of what would be considered the living room. They were dirt poor. According to my grandfather the best gift he ever got for Christmas was a used pocket knife his father had bought him at a flea market. He still gets emotional when he speaks about it, because he knew his dad didn't really have the money to buy it.

 

When my grandfather was about 14 his father and and younger brother were badly burned. They were working on some piece of machinery for a neighbor and were both under the equipment when an oil lamp turned over burning his father over 50% of his body and his younger brother over 30% of his body. His father was hospitalized for about 8 months and his brother for about 6 months. My grandfather, his mother, and three younger sisters, ended up having to do all the planting and harvesting that year.

 

My grandfather had an 8th grade education. After that he spent all his time helping his father with the farm, and doing handyman work. They built chimneys, small additions and things such as that for those that could afford it. When World War II was starting up, he joined the Army Corps of Engineers. He met my Grandmother who was an Army receptionist in DC right before being shipped out to Alaska to work on the highway. While there he started with a shovel. One day an officer asked if anyone knew how to drive a motor grader. My grandfather knew how to drive a tractor, so he said yes, though he had no experience with a motor grader. Luckily he was paired with another guy that did, and he picked it up fast. He spent the majority of the War in Alaska building the highway. When he got back he started writing letters to my grandmother who was living in Virginia. He wanted to marry her, but wanted to make sure he could support her first.

 

When he got back from the war, he decided he wanted to work in the construction trades. He was looking for work, but could not find anyone willing to pay him what he thought he was worth. He felt that he was worth at least a nickle more per hour than the highest offer he was getting. Rather than complain about it, or work for less than he felt he was worth, he decided to go into business for himself. He didn't have any financial backing at all. So he went around until he found someone that wanted something built that was willing to pay all the materials upon delivery, and pay for the two or three laborers he had weekly, but not pay him a wage until he completed the job to their satisfaction. He did the first ten or so projects like this. It was the start of our construction company. He started doing renovations to houses. After about 10 years he had saved up enough money to start buying and developing land into subdivisions, and gained a good reputation as a home builder. About 15 years into this endeavor he started building commercial projects. Today you can't drive more than 5 blocks in our home town (based on the limits of the town when he retired) without seeing something he built or had a hand in developing. By the late 60's early 70's he had was no longer building homes, but rather focused on commercial projects.

 

He raised my father and his two brothers in the industry. From very early ages all three worked as laborers on job sites during summers, school breaks, and sometimes after school when extra labor was needed. He taught them all an excellent work ethic. He sent them all off to college. While in college the oldest brother decided construction wasn't for him, and fell in love with the daughter of a horse trainer. He started training horses, and prior to his death had trained three national champion Tennessee Walking Horses. My father and his younger brother both went to college and got degrees in construction programs. My grandfather started selling the business to them in the early 80's and when he finally retired in 1986 the business he started with no money in his pockets had a $11,000,000 backlog.

 

There is no doubt the courage, ambition, and work ethic my grandfather displayed has had an affect on all of us that have come after him. He laid the foundation that my father and uncle built upon and expanded, and that I have now expanded. He taught us all there is no substitute for hard work. He taught us that we can do damned near anything if we were willing to sacrifice enough for it. He taught us if we didn't like the situation we were in, to do all that we can to change the situation. This is evident in how the focus of our company has changed through out the years, and gives me hope that though times are very lean right now that we will be able to adapt and succeed if we are willing to put forth the work, and are flexible.

 

My grandfather is far from a perfect man. As anyone who has ever owned a business knows, it takes a great deal of time to manage, and at times the business is both your child and your mistress. My grandfather's marriage to my grandmother suffered greatly due to the business and the time he spent on it. They ended up divorcing primarily because of that in a time when divorce was far less prevalent than it is today. There have been times when my father and I have both fell into this same trap. I remember one year where we had a superintendent die on the job, where my father had to take his role during the day and use the late afternoons and evenings to do his management job. During that year I saw my father a total of 13 days. Something similar happened to me when a tornado hit one of our school projects as well as several other building in that school district. I was playing superintendent for one of the schools being rebuilt during the day, and project manager for the whole district during the late afternoons and night. It was 120 miles away from home so I stayed there. This was right after my first child was born, and she had some health problems. I was only able to come home late on Saturday nights and had to leave again Sunday evening, these were the only days I was able to take off other than holidays we couldn't convince the trades to work, and two days my daughter was having surgery. I still hear about that from time to time. Still we were both fortunate to have my grandfather to help our wives understand the importance of what we were doing, and to also tell us when we needed to dial things back or risk our families. He was always honest about the mistakes he made and tried to help us avoid them.

 

My grandfather is now 92, and he will still come in the office about once a week just to check on how things are going. When I am really busy he and his wife always make a point to do more with my wife and kids, to try to make up the slack for me spending too much time at work. This is something that my father also does now. He also makes sure that when times are slow like they are now that we spend as much time together as a family as possible. We had a great night with him and his wife last night playing cards in the driveway as he and my oldest daughter handed out candy to the kids.

 

If you were to ask me who I respect more than any other individual in this world, it would be my grandfather. It due to him that I have the work ethic I have today. It is more than likely due to him that I am still married. While he really didn't teach me that much about construction, he has taught me a ton about life, and what it is to be thankful. Last Christmas I looked over and saw him in a corner crying. When I asked him what was wrong, he said nothing, that he was just so proud that we were able to give the gifts to our children that his parents weren't able to give to him. He came by my office while I was writing this to say what a great time he had last night, but to also remind me to take advantage of the down time I have right now, to spend it with the family. We also talked about hunting a little bit, and the times we shared together in a deer blind at at the camp, but those are stories I'll pass along another day.

Edited by Perchoutofwater
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Attitude Adjustment 101:

 

We all have days when the negativity of life begins to get us down. Nothing seems to be going right. We get into the "poor me" mode and look at the problems we have and think they're insurmountable. When I get like that and start to gripe, I try to remember Psalm 118:24, "This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." It reminds me that every day I'm alive is a gift and gets me out of my "funk".

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Attitude Adjustment 101:

 

We all have days when the negativity of life begins to get us down. Nothing seems to be going right. We get into the "poor me" mode and look at the problems we have and think they're insurmountable. When I get like that and start to gripe, I try to remember Psalm 118:24, "This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." It reminds me that every day I'm alive is a gift and gets me out of my "funk".

 

I'm sure if I was your age I'd find solace in that too. :wacko:

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Attitude Adjustment 101:

 

We all have days when the negativity of life begins to get us down. Nothing seems to be going right. We get into the "poor me" mode and look at the problems we have and think they're insurmountable. When I get like that and start to gripe, I try to remember Psalm 118:24, "This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." It reminds me that every day I'm alive is a gift and gets me out of my "funk".

Fingerbanging random chicks all day has to help 'turn that frown upside down', too, eh? :wacko:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just kidding :tup:

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I am a salty, opinionated prick and I am exceptionally grateful that I live where I can speak my mind without fear of repercussion by the establishment.

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I am a salty, opinionated prick and I am exceptionally grateful that I live where I can speak my mind without fear of repercussion by the establishment.

 

+1. It's nice to not quite be at a "1984" level.

 

I'm thankful for my beautiful wife with whom I am still in love, my kids who bring me so much joy (and equal consternation) and the fact that I can feed them all.

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On this election day, I am grateful to be an American. We've got our share of problems, but I am very grateful for the relative freedom and opportunity this country affords. :wacko:

 

I am a salty, opinionated prick and I am exceptionally grateful that I live where I can speak my mind without fear of repercussion by the establishment.

 

I'm grateful for the men and women who have fought and died so that I can live in which we can choose our leaders, and that when we choose poorly we don't have to wait too long to correct that decision.

 

+1 on these, and add that I am especially grateful to that generation of americans who fought and died for our independence, and who then managed to somehow cobble together a nation founded on a political document and a political philosophy that I believe is still by far the best humankind has yet come up with.

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I am grateful for my friends. This world can be a cold and lonely place if you let it get to you and my friends are quite good at making it warm and inviting.

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I am grateful for those that came before me, both my familial ancenstors and the settlers and inventors that led to my life being so comfortable today. How cool is it that we can take a piping hot shower in the morning at the turn of a knob?

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I am thankful for my lovely wife. She is allowing me to leave today and not come back until Sunday or Monday (so I won't be posting in this thread again until next Monday or Tuesday), so that I can go hunting. This will be the third time I've done this in the last 5 weeks, and she doesn't complain or give me a hard time about it. She takes care of our children and our home. She also works full time. She is very involved with three local charities sitting on the board for one, in charge of marketing for the largest fundraiser of the they for another, and is chairman elect for the largest fundraiser of the year for another. In addition to that she is also very involved in the PTA. She is always willing to help out anyone in anyway that she can. She is just an amazing woman. I don't know what I ever did to deserve her, but I am very thankful that she settled for me.

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I will echo what some of you have already stated. I am very grateful to be married to a truly amazing woman. She's a dynamo and has plenty of surprises for me even after 16 years of marriage. She is also my best friend.

 

Here's to the ladies - we'd be lesser men without them :wacko:

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