Give Thanks for Everything

As I was growing up my family would move every two or three years. Sometimes it was to a new city, other times to a new state. My father worked for a phone company and every time he got a promotion, we would move. Soon the moving stopped because he reached the top.

With each promotion came more money. But my father was an amazing man. We always lived in a normal house. We drove normal cars and took normal family vacations. 

While the other top executives wore tailor-made suits, my father never spent more than $600 for a suit which he bought at a department store. We mostly ate at home and my father loved beans at every meal. He didn't pay anyone to mow his yard, he mowed it himself. When the house needed painting, he did it himself.

One time I asked him what it was like to be in charge of a Fortune 500 company.  I imagined stories of wheeling and dealing. Multi-billion dollar deals. His answer however, shocked me. "I'm bored to tears. But they are paying me so much money, I can't bring myself to leave," he said. He did leave shortly after making this comment to me. It was his sister who convinced him it was time to start enjoying life.

Unfortunately before my father could begin to enjoy the fruits of his labor, he died of cancer. He had colon cancer that had gone undetected. It spread to his liver and then lungs. He worked and saved so hard but in the end, it was taken from him before he could enjoy it.

So at this time of year when we gather with our family members to give thanks for the wonderful things we have in life, let's join hands and rejoice in life and love.