In a world where earthquakes kill thousands in a matter of seconds, financial worries plague Americans, and diseases like cancer have no cure, it’s important to remember that there is always, always, always something to be thankful for.

In the days before Thanksgiving last year, many of my facebook friends and I made a point of posting something we were thankful for everyday. It started out easy, but got progressively difficult because we all wanted to talk about things of substance so as not to appear shallow.  No one wanted to be the first to say they were thankful for french fries–even though many of us are!

What was nice about that exercise was that it did cause me to stop and reflect on the really important things in life; to appreciate the big and the small stuff. I’d like to continue the practice here so I’ve created “Thankful Thursdays.” Every Thursday, I’ll blog a little bit about what I’m thankful for. Some of the posts will be philosophical and reflective. Others will no doubt be shallow.

I’ll kick it off with this: I’m thankful for my husband. If you don’t know him, you’re missing out. He’s the best person I know. I don’t have the time, the words or the space to tell you everything, so I’ll just say–

• 

  That's my guy!

  he’s funny

• he’s intelligent
• he’s talented
• he’s faithful (both to me and God)
• he’s a great father
• he cooks, he cleans, he changes diapers (that alone is enough to be thankful for!)
• he cries
• he gets more handsome every year
• he takes me to Barry Manilow concerts (now you see what I’m talkin’ about, right?)
• he’s a nice guy, a really nice guy.

We’ve been married for 17 years, together for 20 and I’m thankful for each passing year.