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Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009

Gratitude pulls up a chair at table

I may be mathematically challenged, but I find great joy in counting my blessings. When I add them up, they usually multiply.

This marks the 20th Thanksgiving I have shared my gratitude with Telegraph readers — first on the sport pages and for the past dozen years as a local columnist.

It is for these things I am thankful:

For people who can bring new ideas to the table but are still old-fashioned in all the right ways. ... For the sound of rustling leaves, ready to meet their Raker. (In somebody else’s yard, of course.) ... For folks who will still talk to you on an elevator instead of staring at the buttons. ...

That I am not a Butterball Turkey today. ... For beauty that isn’t skin deep. ... For glorious days that show up anyway, despite what the horoscope says. ... For comedians who make me laugh without the crutch of using profanity. ... For Louis Pasteur, who reminded us: “Chance favors the prepared mind.’’ ...

For those times when I manage to eat a bowl of soup without splashing, dripping or spilling it on my shirt or tie. ... For those family trips when we can miraculously travel 37 miles without having to stop for something. ...

For people who bow their heads when they pray and hold their hands over their hearts when they see the flag. ... For flannel pajamas, walks on the beach and the nice man from Indiana who stopped me on Mulberry Street to ask where he could find some good fried chicken in this town. ...

For the umbrella that is NOT somewhere else when I need it. ... For Chris Hatcher, a class act who deserved better. ... For those nights when the moon is as bright as a street lamp and the stars are footlights on a stairway to heaven. ... For the scent of a “live” Christmas tree, even though I have been accused of being “smellblind.’’ ...

For the wisdom of Ronald Reagan, who said: “All great change in America begins at the dinner table.’’ ... For Facebook friends and friends who keep their faces in a book. ... For singer Susan Boyle, who “dreamed a dream,” and the world applauded. (I could watch “Les Miserables” a million times and never grow tired of it.) ...

For people who smile because they’re happy and don’t have to force open the corners of their mouths. ... That I finally got to take my wife to see the famous ducks in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tenn., ... For hello hugs, which are much easier than goodbye hugs. ...

For synchronized traffic lights when I’m in a hurry, and the occasional red light to remind me to stop and take a breath. ... For rows of cotton that stretch across south Georgia fields like snow. ... For my Heisman Trophy vote every year since 1994. ...

For Brig. Gen. Larry Dudney, of Macon, of the 48th Infantry Brigade and Combined Joint Task Force, who sent me a flag flown in my honor over Patriot’s Square, Camp Phoenix, Afghanistan, on Sept. 11, 2009. Thank you, Larry, for your service to our country. ...

For loyal readers. You keep reading ’em, and I’ll keep writing ’em. ... For sentimental journeys and “chillaxing” on the porch swing. ... For absent friends and guardian angels. ... For Delinda, Ed, Grant, Jake and all those magic feet. ...

For all your blessings, too.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Reach Gris at 744-4275 or gris@macon.com