Thankful . . .

People always like to say, "I have a whole lot to be thankful for," around Thanksgiving as a blanket statement. I'm not sure how often they truly think about all the individual things they truly are thankful for and I include myself in that taking-it-for-granted crew. So as the clock strikes Thanksgiving, I'm going to take this opportunity to list some of the things I've probably never bothered to single out.

I'm thankful for family - I'm thankful for my wife, who's not only the love of my life but also my best friend. I'm thankful that I can truly be myself around her even with all the downfalls she subjects herself to by allowing me to be myself. I'm thankful that this time next Thanksgiving, we'll have a four or five month old to be thankful for (even though I have no idea what's in store). I'm thankful for my parents and all they provided me throughout my life, most of all how much they love me. We never had a lot of money but I never knew it because we had all the other intangibles that make a family great and still make our family great. I'll probably never be able to fathom what they went without so that I could have. I'm thankful for my grandparents who raised me every single hour my parents were at work until I was 11 years old. I'm thankful they still get excited to see me every time rather than resent me for how few times a year I see them now. I'm thankful for every aunt, uncle, cousin, and extended member of my family, who individually and collectively have given me an amazing view of how great a big family could be. I'm even thankful for Jax.

I'm thankful for friends - Probably not as thankful as I should be, because I can't remember a time in my life where I didn't have you all. People rarely get the opportunity to have one life-long friend and we all sit here with no idea of a number off the top of our heads because it would truly require us to count. It's something special and something we probably take for granted in a sense, but something we never truly forget or allow the serving staff of The Brickhouse to ignore.

I'm thankful for all that being from America, from Kentucky, and from Hardin County means - Whether that means freedom, or peace, or food, or opportunity, or hospitals, or education, or community, I'm thankful for it all. It's crazy to think about how different things could be with only a few variables changed. How much different would it be if we simply grew up 10 or 15 counties east? Or on a different continent? Or in a nation split by war? I'm thankful for all the opportunities my GPS position on this planet has provided me, from work to housing to colleagues to sports teams.

I'm thankful for faith - This one probably caused a few heads to move away from the screen like Gillenwater away from the yearbook camera, but it's true. I'm thankful for faith and the ideas that were instilled in me from day one that caused right and wrong to be two very different, identifiable things. I'm thankful that when I'm in need of a higher power, I have one identified already and can go straight toward it. I don't practice the way I should, but I still believe in the game.

I'm thankful for music - My posting record doesn't prove that statement, but it's true. I'm thankful that Hitch's post of that Seth Avett cover yesterday has made me come back to it over five times because it peaked my interest like hardly anything else can. I'm thankful that a surprising note or deep lyric can make me introspective on everything in life. I'm thankful that I can hear a song or an album and take myself back to exactly that time, whether it be for the good or the bad. I'm thankful I can make music - not the amount or frequency I wish I could or sung as well as I would like, but I can make it. I'm thankful that I can write about it and think people will actually care enough to want to read it. I'm thankful for The Avett Brothers, My Morning Jacket, Van Morrison, Damien Rice and the "O" album I will still one day replace for Suzie, Ryan Adams, M Ward, Dispatch, Otis Redding, Ben Folds Live, Ray Lamontagne, Elton John's Tumbleweed Connection, anything in Almost Famous, Jay-Z, Sublime, Nickel Creek, that line in the movie "Brown Sugar" that says "You're the perfect verse over a tight beat," Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Jack Johnson, "Possum Kingdom" and "Tomorrow", Michael Jackson, Ja Rule 3:36, Hootie, John Mayer's Continuum, Sam Cooke, The Beatles, Alice in Chains Unplugged, Bon Iver, Dave Matthews prior to 2006, and so so many more. I'm thankful for Pandora, YouTube, and eMusic for helping me find the so so many more. I'm thankful that some of you will be pissed of who I didn't single out and bunched into the "so so many more." I'm thankful that it doesn't matter.


I'm thankful for entertainment - I'm thankful for Netflix, not because of their service but because they're bringing this back. And that means we may get more of this and this and this and this and this. I'm thankful for everything that HBO seems to grace us with, especially The Wire, The Sopranos, and Game of Thrones. I'm thankful for really, really good movies, although they seem to come out less often than they used to. I'm thankful for that stretch during freshmen year of college where we went out and tried to catch up on all the "great movies" of the last decade and a half. I'm thankful for that other TV show we watched freshmen year of college and always tried to talk louder than the opening theme song. I'm thankful for things that make me laugh really really hard.

Lastly, I'm thankful for sports - I'm thankful for that release from the real world that it provides you nearly 7 days a week. I'm thankful for the passion and the emotion that can pop up out of nowhere and leave just as quickly. I'm thankful for the competition and rivalry that it creates. I'm thankful for the bragging rights or soapbox it gives all of us, even if we were never good enough to suit up at a high level. I'm thankful for the math involved, the stats kept, and the money wagered. I'm thankful for Charles K. McNeil, the man who decided simply wagering on the winner was not enough so he developed a prediction to make the action on the game more split, birthing the point spread. I'm thankful for the Cubs. I'm thankful for UK Football. I'm thankful for UK Basketball. I'm thankful for the Packers. In that order. I'm thankful that I got teary-eyed when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, not because I was happy for them but because I thought how awesome it was going to be when the Cubs snapped their streak. I'm thankful the NBA is locked-out so I don't have to care about it or watch highlights of half-assed November action on Sportscenter. I'm thankful Sportscenter did that to hockey without a lockout almost a decade ago. I'm thankful that I hate the BCS but love how it makes every single minute of every single game matter.  

I don't know how much more I want to carry this on or how much more I can. Just know that if you think I should be thankful for you or your product or your profession, I probably am. I don't know if anyone will ever read this, but I recommend to everyone out there that they try this for themselves. You never truly forget what you're thankful for, but you may forget to at least let them know that you are.

I need to make some picks for this weekend, but I'm going to wait until after the holiday to give us all a day without the stress of covering. I'm just going to sit back and lazily hope that the Packers, Dolphins, Aggies, and 49ers all win by eight.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

MBZ