Gobble Gobble

Well the turkey has been consumed, the family visit has ended and it is time to begin prepping for a very, very big football weekend here in Tuscaloosa. I realize the whole country is focusing on Bama vs. Florida in the SEC Championship, but I haven't even started really thinking about that. First things first people. BEAT AUBURN FINALLY would ya?

Thinking a lot today about things I am thankful for this year: my family, my friends (new and old) and my health. Most notably, I'm thankful to be walking. Not the most graceful of walks, but I can move my legs and feel about 80% sensation in the left leg now. I am thankful for my surgeon who moved fast in a crisis. I am thankful to have excellent health insurance that paid 80%. I am just damn thankful for it all. Even knowing my spine situation for years...I never dreamed it would actually all fall apart so quickly, the way it did. The whole experience was terrifying and humbling. It puts you in a whole different frame of mind to go from walking to...well, not. I hope I am NEVER faced with that kind of crisis again - but even if I am, having come out of this I know I'll be able to deal with whatever happens. You find out fast when hard times hit who is really in your corner. I have a LOT of extraordinary people in my corner. Again, thankful.

I am also thankful that I finally grew a pair and made the leap out of radio. I rode the ship and bailed water out with the best of them. I managed to survive for many, many years when others fell around me. I was able to leave ON MY OWN. I wasn't forced out. That gives me peace of mind like you wouldn't believe. The decision to get out and take up something entirely different was quite unsettling...change isn't easy. But the decision was absolutely the right one. I am now able to chart my own course, I realize that. I am now certain I can do whatever I set my mind to do - never had that kind of confidence before. I had a two year plan to get out - and I beat it by 6 full months. I worked three jobs at one time for over a year to get there. Times are hard for everyone...obviously we all know that. I am thankful to be employed, thankful to be doing something that brings me personal satisfaction and still feeds that yen for news I'll probably always have. Will I be doing this a year from now? I don't know. I really don't. I hope so. But if not, I know I'll be doing something...and I know I will never allow myself to baste in negativity again. I went through wave after wave of sporadic layoffs in my previous places of employment. Longest wave was about 18 months. Every week, someone else was gone. When it was finally over, only 4 original people were left in the building, and I was one of them. Now it's fabulous that I survived, I know that, but it didn't feel fabulous. By the time it was over I was drained. Tapped slap out. Nothing left but fear and negativity. That kind of B.S. really, REALLY screws with your mind. I should have gotten out in the midst of that turmoil, but I was too afraid because I didn't know if I could do anything else. I know now that I can. That changes EVERYTHING.

Don't know where I was going with that little missive. Just making a point that I'm thankful for PERSPECTIVE.

Happy Turkey Day to all. Off to make a turkey sandwich and watch some trashy TV with my spouse and my dog.