Thankfull?

With a turkey and all the trimmings on the table this day of Thanksgiving I had to pause and think just what in the heck am I really thankful for. After eight plus years this country is still fighting wars in foreign lands, the rich are getting richer, the poor getting poorer, jobs have disappeared, rents are too high, banks are closing, crime is rising, yet there must be something to be thankful for!
After filling my belly from a bountiful feast that I will surely hate myself at next months bill paying time for. I looked back into my memory bank and realized how truly blessed I am and gave thanks to the lord above and asked for forgiveness for being so negative. Lets see now, I am thankful for surviving a near death event, for my three wonderful daughters, a loving wife, a roof over my head (as long as I can pay rent) most of all for all the love I receive from my family and friends.
While traveling down my memory lane I recall that Thanksgiving seldom meant a Turkey on the table for my family, we were lucky to get a Chicken. My most memorable Thanksgiving was in the 1950's when a family friend who owned a mom and pop store in Pagosa Springs , invited me to go with him on a hunt for a Turkey. This was not a hunt in the super market but an actual hunt in the woods. After hours of trying to quietly stalk though the leaves on the ground without making a sound my teeth were chattering from the cold, I was hoping to just go home and settle for a chicken. Mr. Whitefield began blowing into some sort of gadget that sounded like a turkey gobbling and soon we heard a real turkey answer back. Well, we got our turkey and that was the first Thanksgiving I remember eating turkey on this wonderful holiday.