The End Is Near

You can always trust Homer J Simpson to know
the right thing to say.

December 15th, 2007, was a snowy day in the Chicago suburb affectionately known as the Dirty 630. Mapmakers as well as the mayor of that town prefer it be called by its real name, Naperville. On that chilly evening in the Nape, I decided to start a blog and ten less than artfully created sentences later, this blog was foisted on an unsuspecting public.

I never intended this blog to be anything more than what it was - a place for me to share what was happening in my family in order to quell the steady lament from my mother that she never knew what was happening with us; to share my musings whether you wanted to hear them or not, and from time to time, to try and be a better writer. I never wanted this to be a money-making enterprise, nor did I want it to take its place in the pantheon of "Mommy/Daddy Blogs," especially those unique to people of my faith, wherein everything is perfect (spoiler alert - it isn't perfect) and parents have no problem shilling their children for cash and cheesy product placements. The Den was never going to be the place for that. Ever.

Ten years later and after 1123 posts, in the inimitable words of that sage philosopher and parental train wreck Homer J Simpson, the end is near for the Den. In the last year, I pulled back significantly on my postings and no one seemed to mind. It's not that I am out things to share or stories to tell, I just feel like it's time to step away from much of the interwebs. That's especially true of the Den of late. It's been difficult to muster the spark to share something. Once I got to the point where I wasn't feeling a mountain of guilt for not posting and, to be fair, that's been a recent conclusion, I decided it was time to step away.

So the end is near. I'm not saying the Den is being destroyed, never to rise again. Rather, think of it this way: the owners know something needs to be done with their real estate but they just don't know what to do. The temporary solution is to board the place up while they think long and hard about the next steps. Who knows? Maybe it's a major remodel or it could be that the decision is to knock the thing down and start all over again. That decision could come next week or next month or next year. We shall see.

For now, thank you to each of you who found a seat in the Den that you liked. I'm glad you felt comfortable enough to spend some time here. Thank you for the comments, posted here and shared with me in person, over the years. It's meant a great deal to me and I appreciate it very much.

Thank you.

On Thanksgiving

The First Thanksgiving. Do not @ me!

Is it just me, or did Thanksgiving come a lot earlier than usual this year? I'm struggling, if I'm honest, with the fact that this day where we pause to give thanks, is already here.

In spite of my apparent struggle with calendar management, I am grateful that this day is here. It's been a quiet Thanksgiving here in the Den as we've embraced our status as empty nesters. Since we were with our children last month and we are all together again next month, the thought of dropping a grand or so to head back to the Zion Curtain for turkey just didn't appeal. So they are having their own festivities, just as we are. We'll be having dinner with a group of good friends tonight and that's going to be a lot of fun. Blessings will be counted and gratitude will no doubt be on display. What will not be on display, at least this year, will be a state-mandated moment of gratitude to Dear Leader Trump (methinks if our Despot Wannabe gets his way, that will be a requirement going forward).

So, count your blessings today and every day. Be grateful. There's enormous goodness in showing gratitude. As one of America's most prolific writers of inspirational maxims, William Arthur Ward, said:

Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings,

turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

On Veterans Day

November 11th is Veterans Day. Originally known as Armistice Day created to commemorate world peace, it has become a day where we rightfully honor all those who have served in the armed forces.

Unlike many other nations around the world, our military is made up entirely of volunteers. Each of these men and women have chosen to serve this country, regardless of the political climate here or abroad. They choose to serve for myriad reasons - love of country, opportunities - but they have voluntarily chosen to serve.

Many who volunteer are aware of the appalling statistics associated with veterans in this country. In 2014, 18% of all suicides in the United States were veterans. In 2015, 300,000 veterans likely died waiting for medical care from the Veterans Administration. Tonight, this very night, nearly 40,000 veterans are homeless.

Those who volunteer and serve today know that their purported Commander-In-Chief is himself a draft dodger (because bone spurs, which much like his tax returns, are nowhere to be found). They know that he actively mocked a US Senator because that Senator had the temerity to be captured and became a POW while serving in Vietnam. They know he actively mocked the parents of a dead soldier because they have the last name of Khan. They know that he has disrespected the widow of a slain soldier because, in her grief, she exposed him for the careless fraud that he is. In spite of all this, they continue to serve and men and women continue to volunteer. We owe each of them, those who serve today and those who have served, a tremendous amount of gratitude.

Former U.S. Senator Bill Frist said it best of our veterans:

The valor and courage of our young men and women in the

armed services are a shining example to all of the world,

and we owe them and their families our deepest respect.

Thank a veteran today. Thank their families. Remember that the basic freedoms you enjoy have been protected by their service. Remember their valor and courage and thank them.

Woke and thankful

Thankful for my family. And the Cubs.

The stunningly patient and mighty fine SML and I are now home after a week of Thanksgiving celebrations with our family in Arizona. It was, in a word or two, a great week.

Due to The RM's missionary service, this was the first time in more than two years that we were all together for a holiday celebration. It was particularly appropriate that our first celebration would be Thanksgiving. By Wednesday morning of this past week, we had our children, our son-in-law and our two grandchildren together. As I surveyed the scene, ensconced in my sister-in-law's beautiful home, I was keenly aware of all that I had to be grateful for. The following quote came to mind:

Keep your eyes open to your mercies. The man who forgets to be thankful has fallen asleep in life. - Robert Louis Stevenson

At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to be wide awake and keenly aware of the mercies, or blessings, that have come my way. As we saw extended family throughout the week as well as friends (including a random run-in along the Salt River ((don't ask)) with a kid, who is no longer a kid and a a parent of teenagers himself, I haven't seen in 30+ years), I found myself counting my blessings. This Thanksgiving was one where I found myself full of gratitude, perhaps more so than in years past. I was grateful as I watched my children laugh riotously as they played a ridiculous game. I was grateful as everyone pitched in in some way to bring a fantastic Thanksgiving meal together. I was grateful as my wife and I held our grandchildren as much as we could while we were together. I was more than grateful that my family indulged me as we went to Sloan Park to pay homage to the Chicago Cubs. That made me grateful for the role baseball has played in our family memories. 

I'm glad I had the chance to be wide awake to all this during the week of Thanksgiving. Now that we are back into our normal routine, the challenge is to stay awake. 

The challenge is to stay grateful each and every day. 

Thank You

Thank you.

Two simple words, when spoken simply and offered sincerely, are an expression of gratitude that can be balm to the soul. It is an expression that can launch so much good. Think about how you feel when someone offers a sincere 'thank you' for something that you've done. You're spurned on to do more of the same. Doing more good is never a bad thing.

Today, the United States celebrates Thanksgiving. Now a day more celebrated for its excess (food, pre-Christmas sales, drunken family fights that can only be solved by the power of She Who Must Be Obeyed, Adele - click here for the proof), at its arguably forgotten core, this is a day of gratitude. It is a day to pause, reflect (go ahead, count your blessings!), and to give thanks for what we have. Even if you think the things for which you can be grateful are meager, the fact is that you are so much better off than so many others in this world.

When you consider the meaning of gratitude, it is not only being thankful, but it also embodies being ready to return a kindness shown to you. Demonstrating that gratitude can be as simple as those two little words: thank you. It is an act of kindness. Those acts need not be grandiose. A smile at the elderly woman in the grocery store who is writing a check (rather than a sneer and the burning urge to display a middle finger). Declaring a ceasefire in your Twitter war with our nation's long-suffering national passenger rail provider. Offering to help the lady who has somehow managed to lug 34 carry-on bags onto the plane find places for her crap in the overhead bin, instead of wishing a pox on her. So those examples may be things I need to work on, allegedly, but you get my drift.

Be ready to return a kindness. On those opportunities, Ralph Waldo Emerson said,

You cannot do a kindness too soon,

for you never know how soon it will be too late.

Say thank you today. Say it every day. May your Thanksgiving table be surrounded in gratitude. Even if it winds up looking something like this, there is still much for which to be grateful:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank You, Veterans

Today marks the observance of Veterans Day in the United States. While it marks the end of World War I on November 11, 1918, this day is one in which we pause to honor those who have served in the U.S. military. When you think about what the U.S. has become in its short 229 years of existence, an enormous debt of gratitude is owed its military veterans.

It was an arguably ragtag army that fought to create this nation. It was a military of brothers tragically fighting brothers that held this nation together during the Civil War. It was the Greatest Generation that preserved the country during World War II. It is the hundreds and thousands of those who serve across all branches of the U.S. military today to preserve our freedom whom we should thank.

Without those freedoms, where would we be? Think about it.

We would not be in an insane uproar over a coffee store's decision to take the most sacred symbols of Christianity (Santa, snowflakes, and sleds which as we all know are the true symbols of Christ's birth) off of their holiday throw-away cups.

We would not have a hateful megalomaniac and a little more than slightly off kilter neurosurgeon leading the Republican presidential clown car race for the presidential nomination.

And, we would not have America's most reprehensible family, the Kardashians and their ilk, were it not for these freedoms. But we also have a most cherished freedom - the freedom to turn the grossness that is the Family K off. Some days, that is the greatest freedom of all.

We are not a perfect nation. But we are nation of staunch defenders of the freedoms that make us who we are. We would not be that were it not for those who have defended those rights and freedoms since the idea of becoming an independent nation was born.

Thank a veteran today. They deserve it this day and every day.

900

900 posts

900. Have you given much thought to the number 900? Neither have I, but the truthsayers of the interwebs at Wikipedia have and here's what they report about the number 900:

It is the square of 30 and the sum of Euler's totient function for the first 54 integers.

Um, do you know what that really is? It is the reason why it took me two years to pass freshman algebra in high school. It is the reason I was the only senior in a high school geometry class full of freshmen (for only two weeks because I dropped the stupid class). It is the reason math is my Lex Luthor, my archenemy.

On a lighter note, the year 900 was when the Postclassic period began in Mesoamerica. It was the year that those tough Venetians managed to repel the pesky Magyar raiders. It was also the year that everyone's favorite Pope, Benedict IV, succeeded Pope John IX.

900 is also what this post represents. I have somehow managed to sustain this little blog thing for 900 posts now. What began as a place for me to overshare has in the last seven years evolved into, well, a place for me to still overshare. So not much has changed, has it? No need really to go back through and look at the highlights of the last 899 posts. That's why there's a 'search' box on the blog. Besides I go back and look at some of it and it reads like an entry into "Mortified Nation." Good times, people, good times.

As I have said in the past, I can't thank you enough, the Den loyalists, who have taken a seat on the sofa here in the Den. I'd like to think I'm doing something right because you're sticking around. I'm glad your my friends. Thank you.

Now, it's 100 posts to 1000. I've got things to think about because there are still stories to be told here.