[Howe’s Hunter]

a wife that loves me, a child that tolerates me (and is beginning to understand what we were preparing him for in life), a roof over my head, a job, a dog that thinks I'm a better person than I really am, and many friends.

Last evening, we came home from work to find an immediate disconnect notice from the electric company on our door. A quick panicked phone call to the company revealed that indeed, it was not for our house, but for someone in our neighborhood who would find out sometime today that their electricity was turned off at midnight last night. Based on the overdue amount (which would be equal to about five months of service at our house), the company was going to try and find the right person who should have gotten the notice and try and notify them by phone of the dire situation they were in.

So far this morning, in the last three hours, the sirens for the volunteer fire department that serves the neighborhood just north of us, has gone off four times. That might be four families who were trying to stay warm and something has gone wrong (or four people trying to deep-fry a turkey with very bad results). Thankful that we haven't needed them, but thankful that they would give up their holiday to help us if we did.

Sometimes we just don't realize all the things we have to be thankful for, or how lucky we are to find ourselves in the good situations we are in.

Happy Thanksgiving, all. And thank you for being my friends.

Ed