When I next write, it will be the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, and many of us will still be in our post-Thanksgiving dinner, tryptophan-induced semi-coma. So, I’ll save the silver lining on the recent election for that day, and perhaps avoid the push-back I might get were you in your usual state of alertness!

As our Day of Thanks approaches, I simply want to list some things I’m thankful for, just as I did a year ago. Many of today’s were also on that list, but deserve to be mentioned again and again.

• Faith

• Family

• Our Four Freedoms

• Friends. Especially the ones who’d drop everything to help another friend.

• Our protectors in uniform, both military and civilian

• The brilliance of the Founding Fathers. How’d they do all that without Google or Word?

• The Constitution (speaking of “all that”)

• The sun rising over the ocean and dipping into the mountains

• Books, and the people who read them (with an extra thank you!!)

• Dogs (okay, cats and pot belly pigs, too). If only we were the kind of people they thought us to be.

• Our democratic Republic that allows us to practice democracy (it’s not dead, or even on life support)

• Corporate worship with fellow believers

• Mulligans. Don’t we all need a “do over” from time to time (or, perhaps, every day?)

• Ocean Spray cranberry sauce (okay, I’m just having a little fun here!)

• Teachers, nurses, and ministers. Most are over-worked and under-paid.

• Casting a line in a North Carolina mountain river

• Grandchildren

• The sanctity of marriage

• U.S. citizenship. And you say you’ve never won the lottery?

• God’s grace

That’s it. Short and sweet, just like the recipe for your favorite holiday dessert!

May you and yours have a very happy Thanksgiving!