Somewhere between the last bag of Halloween candy and the first string of Christmas lights, Thanksgiving got lost. It didn’t vanish all at once—just faded, like an old photograph pushed to the back of a drawer. I am one who loves Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving doesn’t demand attention. It whispers, it invites. Thanksgiving doesn’t shout the way Christmas does, and it doesn’t sparkle like New Year’s. Instead, it waits for us to notice that gratitude is still the healthiest thing a human can practice.

I have many reasons to be thankful. I just had a meal of Southern Fried Cabbage that was outstanding. I have a warm home with nice padded bar stools to sit my butt in and trust me at the moment I am thankful for the padded bar stool. I can also walk to my back porch with my 65 inch tv and today hopefully cheer on anyone who is playing the Cowboys.

I am thankful for my wonderful wife, family, friends and my two crazy dogs.

I am thankful for the second chances that I got in life. I didn’t deserve them but got them anyway. The grace that I have been given.

I am thankful I survived 100% of my worst days. I’m still here. That’s not small.

I am thankful for sunrises, sunsets, and the sky showing off for free. Beauty that asks nothing in return.

I am thankful that the story isn’t over. As long as I am breathing there will be chapters added.

Maybe we forgot about Thanksgiving because it doesn’t sell well. There’s no candy rush, no frantic toy shopping, no blockbuster gifts. It’s quiet. Simple. It is a table, with my cousin’s Broccoli casserole, my sister in law’s tomato pie, Bob’s ham and a few chairs, the uncomfortable challenge of being grateful for things we usually overlook. To me It’s that rare day when the table becomes a little island where everyone gathers—family, friends, neighbors, even the person who shows up with nothing but an appetite and suddenly none of that matters. Because the point isn’t the perfect turkey or the fancy table—it’s the reminder that life is still full of people worth sitting next to, stories worth telling, and blessings worth naming out loud.

Even when the world feels shaky, even when times are tight, even when the year wasn’t what we hoped—there’s still gratitude hiding in the corners. Sometimes you just have to slow down long enough to see it.

I think we should remember thankfulness isn’t something that “happens to you, it’s something you choose to look for, even on a messy day in a messy world.