Eyes closed I can feel the rays warm my face as the sun rises over the mountain. It is early morning and quiet. I sit in my backyard grateful and thankful we live in Sonoma County.
In many ways these are very trying times. It can be easy to get cynical, discouraged, even depressed. It is not always easy to remember how good we have it. But it is important to try. We, in Sonoma County, have so much for which to give thanks.
I am thankful for the weather here. I like the cool in the evenings. I like the warmth most days. I like the smell after the first rain. I like the fact it never gets too cold or too hot. Sometimes it can get a little too dry or a little too wet but no other place offers me a better choice.
I am thankful we live near the coast. The ocean is my recharging station. I love the ion energy of the waves crashing. When at the coast I love how I feel so removed from all life’s little problems. And, best of all, my phone doesn’t work out there so there are no interruptions.
I am thankful we live in a non-industrial area. I grew up in a large urban, industrial town in the rustbelt of America. I never had clean air, could not see the stars at night, a car stayed clean maybe one day and my fingernails were always dirty. This horrible smoke the last few weeks, reminds me of home.
I am thankful for all the fresh farm produce we produce in our area. Anyone who chooses can eat fresh food every day; can eat organic if they choose. In our restaurants we are accustomed to only the freshest ingredients. We have great restaurants in Sonoma County. Don’t take this for granted, many communities have no fine dining or only corporate chain restaurant choices.
I am thankful for the fine wine and craft brews that are in abundance in our communities.
I am blessed with a great family, my immediate family and my extended family and I am thankful for a fantastic wife, wonderful children and good friends. I am thankful for having had great parents. Not everyone can say these things but many of us can.
I am thankful for my relatively decent health, for a man my age (the caveat that seems to come with any complement I might get these days). But when I do get ill I am thankful for excellent healthcare options.
Swimming is my daily form of exercise and I am thankful I live in an area that makes it possible to swim outdoors every day. Especially when I know that there are people throughout the world that have no safe water for drinking while I am literally swimming in it.
I am thankful that we will now have more than 100 women in Congress.
I am thankful that I have been a writer all my life and that I have readers who allow me the opportunity to express my thanks to them for being readers and for allowing me to remind myself of all that I have for which to give thanks.
I have made my list, now you need to make yours. No matter how hard things may appear or become, if we are alive we always have lots for which to give thanks.
I think that’s why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It gives us all a moment to remember how truly blessed we are. Happy Thanksgiving.
Gabriel A. Fraire has been a writer more than 45 years. He can be reached at www.gabrielfraire.com.Â
