As I sit down five hours removed from a wonderful Thanksgiving spread, full of rolls, butternut squash soup, caesar salad, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, turkey, and pumpkin pie, I feel there is a lot to be thankful for.  For one, I am thankful that the Duke’s (which has gotten pretty expensive recently [1]) has a reasonably inexpensive, very filling, and very tasty Thanksgiving spread.  I am also thankful to my employers at Legacy Institute for paying for it as well, for myself and my other instructors.  That is something worth being thankful for.

I am also thankful for being in good health, with my life and freedom intact despite two trips to Burma, countless meals spent in inexpensive local “restaurants,” and a deep and abiding and potentially dangerous interest in politics.  I haven’t caught a parasite yet, haven’t been jailed for lese majeste, and have avoided any violence.  And I am thankful for that.

I am thankful for the fact that Thailand continually gives me puzzles to solve about what they are trying to do in English.  Some puzzles are easy enough to solve.  The Duke’s today had a sign that said “Well Come to Thanksgiving.”  It was enough enough to tell what that was trying to say.  On the other hand, on the crowded sung-tow ride back from dinner I saw a billboard sign that had a bunch of women that looked like they were for rent with the caption:  “We are safe the world.”  There are a few ways that sign could be interpreted, but no way in which a bunch of prostitutes would be “safe” or “saving the world” through sexual immorality.  That is indeed a puzzle, but I am thankful for the puzzles to help keep my mind sharp.

I am also thankful for the random people I know online that help me stay sane, and in some ways help my mental health by providing people to bounce ideas off and some context to help me out of the rabbit warren of my obsessively ruminating mind, so that I can find some measure of contentment and peace of mind.  As a “son of Martha” [2] this is a difficult quality to find, but I am thankful for those who have helped me understand the processes of the mind better and who have been a sounding board for my own musings.  I appreciate it.

I am someone who finds it awkward to show gratitude or to express it.  Fortunately, while I have a hard time saying things I have an easier time writing them, so I am thankful for having the gift of writing so that I have some way of expressing the feelings that tend to get bottled up deep inside or hidden behind pursed lips and a fierce glare.  After all, it’s important to let people know what you are really thinking and feeling, lest they think (falsely) that you take them for granted and don’t appreciate them.  I’m thankful for those who understand, and don’t leap quickly to thinking the worst of me.  I just wish I had more people to be thankful for in that regard.

[1] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/dukes-of-hazard/

[2] https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/luke-10-34-42-the-sons-of-martha/