Thanksgiving and What I am Thankful For

/While I was lying in bed, during that space between darktime and daylight, I reflected on those things that I was thankful for.  Of course I was thankful for good health.  After all I survived 79 winters mostly with only one eye.  Even though I am a tad overweight(Luke says I am obese and should do his power 90) and I have had both my knees replaced and a couple of by-passes, I do  enjoy good health.  Thanks to the Federal Government and the DuPont company I have enough money to make it through this lifetime.  But what I am most thankful for are the women in my life.

My first wife I met when I was still in highschool.  After I finished college we got married and that lasted through graduate school and two children for about 16 years.  I was not ready for the challenges that being a husband and a parent  presented.  So when it was all over I was thankful then that it was amicable as divorces go. 

My second wife and I met in the environs of South Phillie.  We married and that lasted for over 34 years.  Again there were two children and the challenges of being a husband and parent were still huge.  But somehow, this time I was learning to feel comfortable with myself and we had a happy and peaceful life(I can remember only one argument) over those years til she passed on to another existance.

So I can reflect and say to myself that the women in my life, starting with my mother and sister along with an assortment of aunts and cousins, as well as my wives, have made the journey through this world both happy and tolerable.  But the culmination of it all is the woman of my life right now.  It is almost like the heavens have opened up and sent to me a person who fits in every way.  The marriage rituals went from a formal church wedding and celebration to a marriage by the Justice of Peace to now a simple conversation and commitment between two consenting adults.  So now I can say...

     Barbara.. you have made me want to Lie and Steal and Cheat as it was said  at an old Irish wedding...

     I want to Lie by your side til death do us part

     I want to  steal your heart everytime I can

    and I want to cheat death so I can be with you forever....

   
and that is what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving....