Thanksgiving is here again already. Looking back, I’m kind of wondering where 2023 has gone. These days, time seems to just fly by, but on the holidays, it’s appropriate to slow down a bit, look back, look ahead, and count our blessings.
And here we are. It’s that day again, when we take stock, look at the harvest of our year’s labor, look at the progress we and our loved ones have made over the course of the year, and express our gratitude to the people who have made our lives better. I’ll start by saying I’m thankful for the editors and my fellow contributors here at RedState and the Townhall Media Group; they are a great group of people, fun to work with, smart, dedicated, and honest. It’s an honor to know and work alongside them.
But on this day, we should look not only to colleagues but to our friends and family. Here are mine.
I’m thankful for my parents. Dad left us in 2018, and Mom eight months later in 2019; they were married for 71 years. Not a day passes when I don’t think of them; not a day passes when I don’t hear Dad’s voice, reminding me of something he taught me. From Dad, I learned what it means to be a man, a husband, a father, and a grandfather. From Mom, I learned for the first time what unconditional love is, and about the security it brings to one’s life.
I’m thankful for my kids. We have four daughters, three of whom are married to fine young men. They are all smart, the ones with children of their own good parents. They are all hard-working and happy. They never forget a parent’s birthday, Father’s Day, or Mother’s Day, and they are all close to each other. I remember fondly the photo they sent us of the four of them together in a coffee shop, wide grins on their faces, with the caption, “Look out world! The Clark sisters are on the loose!”
I’m thankful for my grandchildren.
We have six grandchildren, three of each sort, ranging from 20 to 3 years in age. The oldest was just accepted into a prestigious medical school. Her sister, 18, just started college. We have a 13-year-old grandson who is 6’1”, and already, his school basketball coaches are talking to him about seeking a college scholarship. The three younger grandkids are working their way through preschool and elementary school; they are bright, happy, and healthy.
I’m thankful for my old friends.
Of all the people I’ve run across in my life, there are only a few that I count as close personal friends, and most of them I’ve known for many years; in a couple of cases, over half a century. (Damn me if that doesn’t seem like a long time.) My two oldest buddies I’ve known since elementary school and junior high school. I’m fortunate to still have as a close friend, practically a sister, my old high school sweetie, who, after we broke up at age 18, remarked that we should stay as friends – which we have done for forty-four years as of last summer. I have many other friends, including many of the people here at RedState and in the Townhall media group, but the people you’ve known for a lifetime, there’s just no substitute for that kind of history. I’m glad they are still around. I’m glad to have them as friends.
I’m thankful to be an American.
The United States, for all its current difficulties and unrest, is still the best place on the planet to live. Our Constitution made it that way, even if the current crop of politicians seems to want to forget it exists. America is a union of 50 states, and what remains of the principle of federalism makes it so that if one state doesn’t suit you, there are 49 other states to choose from. People can and do vote with their feet, and if that means the nation is self-sorting along political lines, well, candidly, isn’t that better than many of the alternatives?
I’m thankful to live in Alaska.
It took us many years to make the long-planned move from Colorado to the Great Land. While Colorado changed a great deal in the thirty years we lived there, and not necessarily for the better, we didn’t move to Alaska to get away from Colorado. We moved to Alaska to live in Alaska. Every day, we love the Great Land more; it is clean, clear, vast, wild, and free. There is a majesty, a scale, to Alaska that I have never known in any of the many places I’ve lived and traveled to in my 62 years. You couldn’t pull us out of Alaska with a tractor.
Last but not least, I’m thankful for my wife of 32 years. We are partners in marriage and in business; in 32 years, we have never stopped having fun together. We prefer each other’s company to anyone else. She has more physical and emotional courage than anyone I’ve ever known. This is a woman who was exposed to Sarin gas in the first Gulf War and suffered nerve damage, deals with chronic pain and balance issues, and was told she would be wheelchair-bound by the time our youngest daughter went to kindergarten. She said, “No, I won’t,” and is still walking about today; that youngest child is 27. Willpower can do amazing things, and of willpower, she has a great big store.
I love her, and I admire her, her strength, her persistence, her unwavering support, her love, and her having my back in every enterprise, business and personal, that I’ve attempted over the last three decades. Marrying her was by far the best thing I’ve ever done in my life, and I’m grateful she saw fit to marry me.
Best Thanksgiving wishes to you and yours, wherever you find yourselves on this day.
