Giving Thanks

I have a personal Thanksgiving tradition that I’ve been doing for a number of years now. Each year I send thank you cards to five people in my life that I have felt special gratitude for that year. I usually end each note with something like, “This Thanksgiving you are one of the blessings I feel grateful for.”
I’ve completed mine for this year but there are still five people that I would really like to give thanks to but because of the situations involved, I felt that they might be insulted. I decided that since none of them read my blog perhaps I could share my thanks here.
And although I often use humor to make my point, I want it understood that I am truly grateful to these people. This is NOT a joke!
1. My birth dad whom I have never known. First, thanks for giving me life. It’s been a roller coaster but I’ve held on for the ride so far. Also, thanks for staying out of my life. I don’t know what the exact circumstances were but I never had to be part of the “push me- pull you” tug of war that I’ve seen in so many children’s lives. Thank you.
2. Thanks to my children’s stepmother. Despite all the ugly involved, she took on the job and has stuck to it for 5 yrs. It has been through some of the worst circumstances but she has stayed. I know what that it takes to do that. Thank You.
3. To Dan who fired me from a job I thought and had been told I would have for a long, long time. I learned how many people in my small town cared about me. I had no idea the level of respect that Brent and I had created in this town until I was fired. And that respect came for the same reason I had lost the job- I stick to my standards. Thank you.
4. To my husband’s ex-wife for raising three terrific people that I love very much. Also, for whatever reasons, giving me a chance to have Brent in my life as friend, companion, work mate and lover. Living with him has been a choice experience. Thank you.
5. And finally, to my ex-husband, for giving me 8 of my children. But most of all, if I had not met and married him, I would have lost out on the biggest growth experiences of my life. Knowing and dealing with him have taught me more of life’s lessons than I could have learned in any other way. Thank you.
This Thanksgiving, these five people are some special blessings for which I am grateful. That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?