I am Grateful

I was listening to Elizabeth Gilbert talk about "Eat Pray Love" her book online. One of the people in her group talked about starting a gratitude journal.

Since I have found like many others that "Gratitude literally is the motor of life!" I thought I would share what I am grateful for here.

I am grateful that I survived to retire.

I never expected to ever be able to retire. I expected to have to work until I died because I lived my life in such a way so that I enjoyed my life as much as possible when I was young because I thought, "How can one enjoy life when one is old?" Of course now I see this as the ignorance of youth. But because of God's grace I have enjoyed my youth(except for a few year bought with suicidal thoughts) and I have enjoyed my life since I almost died in 1998 and I have been very grateful to both survive and to retire. This has allowed me to help many people in my family and outside of my family in ways that I could never have otherwise. So, for me, the leisure to practice(pray and think and solve problems) has been beneficial for not only me but for everyone I know.

I am grateful for the leisure to practice

This basically means that I'm grateful to have time to pray, to think, to meditate, to Be, to Walk, to talk to people, to travel, to help those that I see that I can help and that are open to being helped etc.

I'm grateful that I never had to live alone if I didn't want to.

What this means is that there was always family, friends or girlfriends or one or more of my children or my wife that wanted to live with me. This has always made me happy. If I want time alone I'll go to a movie, go hiking in the mountains or desert or go ride my motorcycle or car or truck somewhere. But most of the time I like not being completely alone more than about 3 to 5 to 10 days at a time. Even traveling to other countries I prefer to go with one or more people.

I'm grateful that I was born and grew up in the United States.

I think everyone on earth will understand this one.

I'm grateful that I grew up mostly in the State of Washington until I was 4 and in the state of California mostly from age 4 on.

California is one of the most amazing places on earth as far as the way people think.
It is said that a Californian will try anything once. But that really doesn't get to the core of it. Californians, especially coastal Californians having a tradition of being very experimental in a way that sets them apart from any other place on earth.


I am grateful for very good health.

Yes. I have had many ailments but generally I have had remarkable health. It has allowed me as a young man to ski, to surf, to ride motorcycles across the deserts, to fly planes, gliders, hang gliders and to travel to many foreign countries, to marry, to have and raise 3 biological children and to raise 2 more stepkids, to help 2 God daughters through college etc. etc. etc.

I am grateful for my present wife and even for my 2 ex-wives when I lived with them.

All we ever have is now. My life has been like living maybe about 10 to 100 lives in one. I'm stunned at how full a life I have had and if I made myself fully contemplate the whole thing I think I would be more overwhelmed by it all than I already have been.
So I try to be in the present so I can continue to survive and prosper.

I am grateful for both the ability and the time to write of my life and ongoing life experience.

I have watched so many people I know either die or go crazy or both over the years. So I consider myself very lucky at age 60 to still be alive and to have reasonably good health and to be happily married to my best friend, my wife, and to still be raising a teenage daughter and to have my 23 year old god daughter living with us.