Thanksgiving Letter

Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving Children - 

It sure seems weird calling you two adults “children.”

The funny thing, though, is no matter how old you two get, and how old Anne and I get, you’re still both our “children.”

Which is why this holiday, the first without the “children” at home, seems so different.

Yes, the birds have feathered, matured, and flown the coop - but the coop is still in place, ready for the flock to return!

I slept in today, have had a cup of coffee, it’s 40 degrees outside (bragging, Nichole) so I’ll wait for the sun to arise before alighting on my bicycle to put in the day’s miles - and along the way I shall think of all that I have and am grateful for.

Not the bicycle, not the airplane, motorcycle, cars, house, business, and properties - but my wife, my children, and the future children that will come into my life.

Anne and I were doing the old person’t thing last night - recalling all the people that we have known, and who are no longer with us. It’s astounding, when we took the time to think about it, to realize how many people we have known that have died, and most of them prematurely so (at least by Census Bureau statistics).

I got home early yesterday to lunch with Anne - delicious BLTA sandwiches (the only thing missing were fries) - and then a little motorcycle maintenance (change the oil) and then a little motorcycle ride. Not far, maybe 45 miles up Deer Creek and down Yerba Buena, then home. 

The tires are worn, so handling was a little squirrelly, and there was more traffic than I was used to in the canyons, but it was as fun a ride as ever. It was clear, and chilly, and the wind whipped me around a bit on Pacific Coast Highway.

Did a couple of wheelies (I can almost get from first gear to second gear with the front wheel in the air - but I have a lot more work to do on that!), burned through a couple of turns, skidded the rear wheel a couple times into bumpy corners like a motocrosser; it’s amazing how such a simple little relatively inexpensive toy (remember, I got The Sewing Machine for less than three grand) can bring such timeless happiness.

And that’s what I want you to remember.

We give thanks for all the wrong reasons. Sure, we’re happy to be alive when so many of our friends and family can’t experience Thanksgiving Day, 2015. Sure it’s nice to have a job, and hopefully it’s a meaningful job that gives us purpose rather than just a paycheck. And it’s great to have all the things I worked hard for that complete my physical being.

But what I’m really thankful for is that I have the ABILITY to be happy. Happiness is an individual CHOICE. We can choose to be happy, or we can choose to be miserable and intolerant.

I went for the short motorcycle ride yesterday afternoon because I knew it would make me happy. It did!

Anne makes me happy.

Usually you children make me happy, but sometimes, admittedly, you make me frustrated.

And that’s all good - because at the end of the day, whether I’m frustrated or happy is a matter of MY CHOICE.

So when you sit down at your Thanksgiving Day meal today, give thanks that you have the CHOICE to be happy or not.

We love you (and your future children).

Happy Thanksgiving Kids!

Dad