10 Things I Am Thankful For.
I love Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday. What’s not to love? Food, family, and football are three of my favorite things. The prodromal smell of warm homemade banana bread pervading the house means the aroma of roasting turkey is only days away. Smiling is easy this week while making sure everything is perfect for the welcome cacophony of our kids returning home for a holiday visit to our empty nest. Thanksgiving spirit warms the soul.
The best part of Thanksgiving is taking time to reflect on the things we are most thankful for. It is a strange tumultuous time and yet it seems as if there is more to be thankful for than usual. Perhaps it is during trying times, with so many people suffering around us, that we are grateful for things we otherwise would take for granted. I am thankful for many things and figured why not share them openly in the hope that others will share theirs too. Who knows, maybe the Thanksgiving spirit will catch on.
I am thankful for:
1) A wife who is my best friend and the love of my life. She is a saint for tolerating this innovation junkie.
2) Three great children who despite our parenting have made us proud by becoming incredible young adults. They learned their lessons in irreverence well and are all exceeding my one expectation, to be interesting.
3) The Business Innovation Factory (BIF) team who stuck by me when I left my accidental bureaucrat role in the public sector. I learn by hanging around them every day and I intend to stick by them.
4) A growing network of smart and passionate people that I have connected with. Connections seem an impersonal way to describe it. More like friends.
5) Living in a time when so much innovation is possible. We are blessed with the tools to enable purposeful networks to work on the real social challenges of education, health care, and energy.
6) The temperament to thrive on steep learning curves and the confidence to realize how much I have to learn.
7) The blessing of time to write and for my wife’s encouragement to write more.
8) Twitter, Google, and Apple for enabling this free agent to punch above his fight weight. Self-organizing is no longer an oxymoron.
9) Being surrounded by people with an incredible sense of humor who make me laugh every day.
10) The opportunity to do what I love and to love what I do. Passion really is the secret sauce.
Happy Thanksgiving. What are you thankful for?
Well, I’ve never been shy to be the first one to the buffet, and so I just came across this post, and am shocked that no one was thankful for anything in the last month. Come on people!
Saul, besides being thankful that you continue to put out thoughtful and thought-provoking content, I am thankful for:
- being a little state where friends matter in business and in life.
- a big world made smaller by technology.
- the last 8 years of my mompreneur life.
- my 8yo daughter who shows early signs of taking after her Mom.
- my 5yo son, who doesn’t, but he has management potential.
- my husband, who loves and supports me in so many important ways.
- my business partners, who understand my need to put family first, and find creative ways to make it work for the business.
- having a business brand that embodies our sassy personalities.
Oh, and let’s see - living in a state with high corporate taxes, income taxes, and sales taxes. (Keeping it real - I didn’t want to be too Pollyanna here.) Really, I wish things were different in this regard.
I also wish everyone a year filled with things to be grateful for. Happy holidays!
Michelle Girasole
TheSassyLadies.com
Things I am thankful for:
- my three beautiful children, without them, I wouldn’t be me
- my daughter’s soon-to-be husband, boy did she hit the jackpot, he is a wonderful guy!!
- my mom who has always been there for us, no matter what
- my long-time friends, I love them all
- my two employers who have given me the luxury of working from home for the past two years
- my health and my children’s health
- Alberta, I am a true blue Albertan and I love this province, even when it is -30 with wind chill, just like this morning
- my son’s friends’ fathers - Mark and Bill especially for the humor and love they have both shown my boys. (I pray for Bill and his wife Trish everyday after the loss of their beloved Tanner and my son’s friend, such a tragic and terrible loss)
- my sons’ hockey coaches throughout the years - a strange one, maybe, but without having their father around, these wonderful volunteers have provided my boys with that ‘man thing’ that I would never have been able to do.
- my pets for the entertainment and never ending love