The Things I'm Most Thankful for in 2009

In reading different people's lists of things for which they're most thankful this year, I feel the same way in most cases.

My list would start out with God and all His many blessings, which pretty much sums it all up.

But I would want to add the privilege of living in America during its best times. My husband and I often discuss the fact that we feel we have lived in the best times America has ever seen, or will ever see.

With the financial situation our country is in now, and especially with the moral decline of society in general, we feel things will never again be as good as the time when we were growing up and then raising our family.

Of course we feel so very grateful to those who have served their country, in war time or even during the brief periods when we were not involved in any wars. Those who served in peacetime were there for us had the need arisen to fight to defend their country, and we thank God for them.

I'm thankful that God saw fit to give me the best husband in the world and has let us stay together all these many years so far. We thank God every day that He saw fit to give us two wonderful, healthy children, seven grandchildren, and now a great-grandson.

I'm thankful for all my friends, family, and loved ones.

I'm thankful for jobs we had through the years that allowed us to make a decent living and put back enough to sustain us in our retirement.

I'm thankful to have a roof that's paid for over our heads.

I'm thankful for heat and air conditioning.

Living in a small town where we feel safe is another blessing we don't take for granted.

I could go on forever with such things, but the last few days I've been especially thankful for some different things.

Right now I'm so thankful not to be raising kids, or grandkids as so many of my peers are doing. I just don't think I could do it anymore.

As much as I love babies, I would never again want to be responsible for one. I would undoubtedly put it down somewhere and forget where I left it, as I do everything else.

I'm thankful I'm not shopping for a husband. I feel I have little left to attract a man, and even if I did, should I lose my husband, I would not want another one. My sister-in-law said after losing her husband and turning down a marriage proposal for another man, "For all those years, I was number two. Now I'm used to being number one and I don't want to go back to being number two again." I hope to live to take care of my husband should he need me to in his later years. But I would never want to take on another man to care for. I'm just plain tired.

I'm thankful that I don't have to get up every morning and go to a job. Just getting up and into the kitchen is as big a job as I want right now.

I'm thankful that all my friends are having the same problems I am. I don't say that to be mean, but if I were the only one who lost things and forgot important information, like where are my glasses, I would think there was something wrong with me. But around my friends I feel pretty normal.

I'm thankful that as a woman I no longer have to dread the visit from "Aunt Flo" every month.

I'm thankful I don't have to worry about having an unexpected and unplanned addition to the family.

I'm thankful I was blessed with good health enough to raise the ones I did have, and that they have turned out to be the kind of people they are.

I'm thankful that we have food enough and a bit to share with those who don't.

And if I can just make it through Thanksgiving without burning the house down, forgetting to turn the oven on when I put the turkey in it, or alienating some family member because what I say comes out wrong, I'll be even more thankful. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!