(creative @dobronski waxes poetic on) Brevity http://t.co/8YiK8FNq

CD Doug Brown's one-sentence post about brevity: http://t.co/8YiK8FNq
I've now exceeded his length by one sentence (edited out a picture though) but I'll leave it at that bc we could likely all use a bit of a breather heading into the weekend...

My birthday: an occasion for all to give thanks

My birthday's a national holiday.

At least it is this year.

And the year I was born.

My birthday's a Monday this year and when that happens, it's Thanksgiving Monday in Canada.

I'm not sure if this happy coincidence has magically made me more thankful.
What I feel in my current season, which is far from problem-free, is still an almost inexplicable appreciation and love for life. 

In general, I'd think most of us like appreciativeness in people.
Genuine gratitude seems to imbue life and positive energy.

A common Thanksgiving question is "What are you thankful for?".

While is a nice question to consider, I propose two variations on the question to refine our Thanksgiving, based on how my own gratitude is shifting:

1

I'll call this thanks of omission: wherever we're at in life, there are infinite circumstances that could be worse for us. I think particularly of the space we're in right now: I have time, energy and resources to write a blog post; you have time, energy and resources to read it. Our ability to make this little mental transaction instead of, say, spending our days fighting for our lives, is a privilege only a small percentage of the world population gets (a similar thought in this post: How to Rule the Whole Freaking World.by Sonia Simone).

Two other odd examples for me personally:
a. I've never had an injury involving broken bones or losing teeth.
b. I've never had to deal with broken windows in my car. Even after having one totalled several years back. And after living and parking in high auto theft areas in Canada.
So... what's an omission in your life that you're thankful for?

2
Particularly over the last few years, when I think about being thankful, my thoughts gravitate more to people than to things (with lots of room still to grow in this area). However, this thankfulness comes into strangely sharper focus after you've helped bring a person into the world: our 20-month-old daughter isn't perfect, but lately she's had moments where she's a living breathing cartoon character out of Disney's Steamboat Willy.
On one level, she does nothing for me.
On a deeper level, she's probably more a saving grace for me than I may ever realize.

I'm thankful for my wife who's helped her be this way, and believes in me even in my less-than-perfect present situation. Lovingly taking care of the combined birthday/Thanksgiving baking while I sit at my laptop is something I'm also immensely grateful for.

I'm thankful for family & friends who've embraced and not judged.
They've helped me enjoy the many omissions from point 1.

So... who are you thankful for? (technically it's whom but that looks a touch too hifallutin...).

Wish you all a great Thanksgiving!

title image: Freedom From Want by Norman Rockwell