I'm Grateful For...

Over the year, I can say that I am grateful for a lot of things and a lot of people. This is likely to read off as a list, but it is personal. That being said, here goes...

• I'm grateful for the new job and not having to lug around two tons of dog food every night anymore. I finally can use my head AND my academic background. The other benefit means that I get some weekends off for the first time in nearly ten years. 
• I'm grateful that I am still married to my wife. God is watching our marriage.
• I'm grateful that amid all of our new toys, we still have time for each other. Sometimes it takes a little bit to turn off the computers, tablets, smartphones, TVs, etc. and simply chill out. 
• I am also grateful for not having to work in retail anymore. No more Black Friday at Walmart, no more working miracles for a 50-cent raise. I'm worth a lot more than that.
• I'm grateful that both cars are paid off!
• I'm grateful for our church family. I felt like one of those highly touted athletes being recruited by a top-notch program, and when we joined Mount Zion, it all came to fruition.
• I'm grateful for my friends, all of you. Basketball teammates, brothers, best friends, co-workers, barber, and everyone else in the mix - you all have added greater value to my life. I just wish I had gotten those Christmas cards out. 
• I'm grateful for my nephew Aston. Big boy is a linebacker in training, just you wait. Alan should have a Charles Haley Dallas Cowboys throwback jersey in his size for the boy.
• I am grateful for winners: the Miami Heat, President Barack Obama, Henderson State football, and any Razorback who was drafted before we went to Coach John L. Smith's epic failure of a season.
• I am grateful for people showing their true colors. I now know what you were all about, and I forgive you.
• I'm grateful for my late cousin Jason D. Cole. God gave him thirty years with us, and one day we'll all be back together in Heaven. Death comes and though we are never prepared for it, the life J. Cole led  was one which we all have come around his two daughters. RIL, cuzzo.

Let Christmas not just be a time of gimme, gimme. Slow down, thank God (or your higher being of choice), and be appreciative of what 2012 has brought us. Merry Christmas and God bless!