One of the things I like best about Facebook is that, every day thus far in November, several of my friends have posted on their wall something they’re thankful for. I didn’t join in, but I did keep a gratitude list. I hereby share it with
you in this newspaper where I’m grateful to be a weekly columnist.
November 1: a faded but still lovely bouquet of zinnias
November 2: friends who love books
November 3: a near-miss instead of a wreck on a busy highway in Kentucky
November 4: analog clocks
November 5: a shed filled with firewood
November 6: democracy, despite its flaws
November 7: the staff at the Putnam County Election Commission
November 8: country roads in autumn
November 9: “The Poisonwood Bible” on audiotape
November 10: tailgating at Tennessee Tech football games
November 11: veterans
November 12: rain falling soft upon my fields
November 13: church ladies, quietly doing good
November 14: a bald eagle perched in my walnut tree
November 15: Jere Whitson Elementary School
November 16: my torch-red Ford Mustang
November 17: celebratory champagne
November 18: the Great Smoky Mountains
November 19: that the driver who plowed through my pasture fence and flipped her car wasn’t badly injured
November 20: that my horses didn’t escape when the aforementioned driver knocked my fence down
November 21: grandboy Eli’s first visit to Tennessee
November 22: Indians and Pilgrims and turkey and pumpkin pie
November 23: not shopping on black Friday
November 24: college football, even without Derek Dooley
November 25: four-day weekends
November 26: the Cookeville Christmas parade
November 27: the last sliver of pumpkin pie
November 28: a full “Frost” Moon
November 29: turkey noodle soup
November 30: dental insurance
Most of you “no-flies-on-me” readers have no doubt figured out that, because I wrote and sent this column in several days before it appeared in today’s paper, I
couldn’t have known whether there’d be any turkey or pumpkin pie left over from Thanksgiving dinner. Or if tomorrow’s Christmas parade will be postponed by bad weather. Or whether the full moon will be visible next Wednesday.
But I don’t think it’s wrong to be grateful for something wonderful that just might happen. Try it yourself. You might discover that your thankful list
goes on and on.
(November 25, 2012)