When you have been as richly blessed in life as I have, being thankful should be easy and should come naturally, for me that is not always the case. I have spent more than half of my life working very hard to protect and provide for the greatest treasures on earth that I have been entrusted with. But today on a day of thanksgiving I would like to take the time to shout from the mountain tops my thankfulness and praise.
I am thankful for my wife of twenty-three years Phoebe. Even after all of these years she is still my best friend, my lover, my bride and my girlfriend. She is passionate and beautiful, creative and loving. She sees something in me that I cannot see for myself, she believes in me when even when I swim in a sea of doubts. She has been by my side through my darkest years and never gave up on me.
I am thankful for my daughter Courtney who arrived in this world twenty-one years ago today at 4:42 AM, after a long and difficult labor. Happy Birthday Baby Girl! She came into the world premature, with a cleft pallet, and some other health issues. She is a fighter though, spirited and as passionate as her mother. It was a long road through surgeries, oxygen tanks, and apnea monitors. It crushed me to drive them to Scottish Rite Childrens hospital in Atlanta, leave them there and go home to work. That pain is as fresh today as it was 21 years ago but I never doubted that it was the right thing to do, I learned that year what being a father truly means, I have struggled at it the entire time but I pray that I have gotten it right more times than I failed. Even as she continues to struggle with her health I know that she will be okay, I know what she is capable of even when she may not realize her own strength.
I am thankful for my son Trevor who turned eighteen this year. Trevor was also born premature and is my NICU warrior, my little man, even if he isn’t so little anymore. He is also a fighter and where Courtney faced the hardest struggles early on Trevor’s began in middle school we he started being plagued by migraines. Migraines that lasted a few days turned into ones that lasted weeks, then months. The last migraine lasted over 1000 days, a thousand just incase anyone thinks i accidentally hit an extra zero. These were full blown, stay in the dark, no noise or light, nauseating, debilitating migraines 24/7. So many different diets, no medicines worked, finally got a few periods this year where botox injections took the edge off for a few weeks, enough that he was able to get back into school to finish his senior year. Now for the last 7 days he has been almost entirely migraine free thanks to Judy Goodman, an extraordinary woman who has graciously helped Trevor, I will forever be in her debt.
I am thankful for my other son Matthew, I take pride in knowing that one day he will be my son-in-law but even then he will still just be my son, one of my own children. No father could ask for a better man to be their daughters best friend and true love. I see in him a determination to succeed and overcome adversity that needs to be nourished through encouragement and unconditional love. I will always be here to offer both.
These are the treasures I have been entrusted with and I thank God for them everyday. No more treasures does a man need than a family to love, I am truly rich and blessed indeed.
Thanksgiving
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Thank you my love! I am the one who has been blessed by a man who despite a medical discharge from the Army pushed himself physically, emotionally, and mentally to make a way for me to stay at home with our children and never lack for anything. You not only take care of the children and I but you also take care of my mother as if she were your own; she says that you spoil her. And it is true, you do spoil her. On top of this you have been a wonderful son. You have taken care of your mother, who voices your praise over and over again because you are you, but also because of the way you have stepped up and helped her since your father died.
You are amazing!! I don’t know anyone who can do all the things you do. I am blessed beyond measure to have you as my best friend, my partner, my everything! I love you!