Thoughts of Thanksgiving

Though I have a grateful outlook daily, I always make time at Thanksgiving to pause and take stock of things. There’s not enough space for the full list, but here are some things for which I am thankful.

  • Family and friends. ‘Nuff said.
  • As the invincibility of youth morphs into the physical indignities of old age, good health takes on added weight. I’m very thankful for my own great health and the wisdom to know it can be gone in a blink.
  • The UCH Cancer Center is a community treasure, and I’m thankful for the leaders who brought it into existence. Too many friends have needed the Center’s care, but I’m thankful they can be well taken care of there.
  • I’m thankful for our local government officials, even when we disagree on occasion.
  • Vern’s Toffee House and their ‘world-famous butter almond toffee’ is something for which to be very thankful! Vern’s is a family-owned business with Fort Collins roots and creators of the best toffee in the galaxy.
  • I’m grateful to live in one of the greatest places in a great country. From Northern Colorado we get to play in Colorado and Wyoming, beautiful places both.
  • With the stories in recent months about the unethical behavior at major men’s college basketball programs around the country, we should be thankful for the longstanding tradition of integrity of Colorado State University Athletics.
  • I’m very grateful for silence and being able to unplug. With electronic devices burrowing into every crevice of our lives, I am thankful for off-switches and remote places…when I have the discipline to use them.
  • I’m thankful to be old enough to remember and to have visited the now-defunct Soviet Union and to know communism is a failed ideology, which has killed and impoverished millions of people. I’m thankful to not live under that kind of system!
  • As a follow-on to the point above, I’m thankful for free enterprise and the innovation and prosperity it has created. On a local level, I’m thankful for the businesspeople and professionals in our community that provide products and services, create jobs and give so much back to meet the needs of our community.
  • At the chamber of commerce we are grateful for the partnerships we have with local town, city and county governments, other area chambers of commerce and economic development associations, educators, community foundations and others to work on projects such as Fix North I-25, Leadership Northern Colorado, the Talent 2.0 workforce development strategy, and retention and expansion of area primary employers to name a few.
  • Woolrich flannel shirts and SmartWool socks!
  • I am very thankful for the ultimate volunteers – the men and women who enlist in the armed services. They are on our minds especially during this time of year when many of them are far from home. Thank you.
  • Finally, I’m thankful for the Larimer County Food Bank. Nobody should go hungry ever, but especially at this time of year.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!