Thanksgiving. Always my favorite holiday. From March of the Wooden Soldiers to the sit down feast with the fan damily. I liked it as a kid, loved it when the kids were kids, and still look forward to it as the kids are now over 18 and starting the journey of their own adult lives. We don't have grandkids, yet, and we wonder if and when and who would break us into that. We are in no rush.
I truly am thankful for so many things. Thanks to God my life has been and continues to be possible. To my wife to whom I offer much thanks, and apologies, for having to put up with me and who hopefully brings her more positives than negatives. Thankful to my family, all of them, and really thankful my parents who are still alive and doing well. And of course the kids who ebb and flow in my life but who I think about everyday each and everyone of them. And, yes, while I really miss Ryan on Thanksgiving, I am thankful I had him in my life for 21 years.
I'm thankful that I have a roof over my head, a car to drive, food in my belly, clothes on my back, and a few dollars from time to time in my pocket. I'm thankful that I have a job that I really like, and the students and my colleagues that say they like, well put up, with me. A month ago I declined an offer to take a position with The Sharing Network to remain as nursing faculty at Essex County College. I'm thankful, and hopeful, that I made a better decision in staying put. It would have been just like me to run from one thing to another searching for that thing to complete me, deep down knowing I'll never be complete again. To many holes have been shot through this heart and body over the years to ever be whole again. So I run, just as the going gets good.
I am thankful for my health, which is holding it's own. If I was really concerned I would attack it like I was training for the Olympics. But training and me really don't go together. Maybe at least I'll cut Half & Half out of my diet. I'm sure that lines the walls of my arteries. They say health is wealth and from what I see in the long term and hospitals where I work I believe that to be true.
I'm thankful for the handful of friends that I have. One of the greatest disappoints in my life has been having tons of acquaintances but very few lifelong true friends. There's been some contenders but through hurt or circumstance they don't stick. But I am always glad and thankful to see old ones and meet new ones. I do think we have lost the meaning and weight of what a friend is, it seems that term loses it's meaning as we get older. Social media has also distorted that word, and don't get me started on what having a or being a mentor is. It's more than just a brush up, a visit, or a phone call.
I'm thankful that I have been able to pursue and live in the life of some of my passions. It all started for me in high school when I was able to first look at the world through the back of a camera capturing moments in time. That passion would bring me first to Seton Hall for an attempt at a journalism major, but, I would only last a semester, after being drawn into the action of spot news rather than trying to capture it. I went from chasing the news, to being part of it, to back to chasing it when I circled back after retirement.
And then I am thankful for the opportunity to have felt the heat from the flames and tasted the smoke during my time in the Newark Fire Department, from delivering patient care from the bouncing ambulances at University Hospital to working as a bedside RN to a Nurse Practitioner and now a college nursing instructor, and for getting the fly fishing bug 30+ years ago which took me from the stockie streams in New Jersey to becoming a guide on the Upper Delaware rivers and then a Captain and guide on the beaches and salt waters along New Jersey.
Over the last 30 years, through thick, and there's been a lot of thick, and thin, I have had a few constants in my life. One of them is fly fishing. It is a passion, or mental disorder or addiction, that I am glad to have. While I'll like to fish for, well fish, I am most thankful for having made the jump from trout being my go to to striped bass. I absolutely love striped bass, and more so fly fishing for them. But, actually, I think the thing I like most about striped bass is being in their world. I love that they can be and are everywhere. From swimming in the shadows of big cities, to the back bays and rivers, from the flats to the beaches to the deep water, I am most happiest when I experience them in their world.
I would say I really believe that because I love to take pictures of either them, them in their environment, their environment, or fly fishermen and woman enjoying their environment. I spend probably an equal amount of time during a blitz with a rod in my hand or looking though the lens with my finger on the trigger.
And lastly, I am thankful for this blog. I am thankful I named all of this The Average Angler. That is who I am and who you just may be. But this blog has been a part of me since May 11, 2009. I was 41 then. Erin was four. I had only been married once. I was living in Red Bank. Ryan was alive. I was just beginning the process in becoming a guide and Captain. It was four years before my gastric surgery. A lot has happened in those 14 years. But in the 2,907 posts I have been able to share my experiences, thoughts, and at times opinions, with no one but myself, but also to everyone that reads it. It has become a part of me and I don't know how I would do if it all went away. But all things in life eventually do go away.
So be thankful. Life sucks at times. But there can and should be good along the way. If life sucks hopefully you have the strength to make changes with the support of family and friends. If you have lived your life without trauma and trials, don't worry, it's coming. We all get out turn in the barrel. So when it's other peoples turn make sure you are there for them to lend a helping hand and support, because you will need it when it's your turn.
And lastly while I am on my Thanksgiving Day soapbox. You can buy just about anything and everything, but you can't buy time. Everyday you wake up you are one step closer to the grave, which could be today. Waiting for that perfect time to be secure enough, old enough, smart enough, fit enough, good looking enough, to take a chance and live and make memories may never happen. And in the end you would have missed out, as would have your family and both old friends and new ones you would have met as well.
So be Happy. And Thankful. And Grateful. And Blessed.