An Attitude of Gratitude

I’ll admit it.

I can be a serious ingrate, and it is so hypocritical.

How many times have I told my kids to say “thank-you”? How many times do they have to be reminded anyways?

And yet how many times do I catch myself sweating the small stuff, and ignoring the blessings around me?

It is so easy to get caught up in the milieu of our daily lives that we  forget how good we really have it.

When is the last time you sat in 110 degree heat, in the sand, in a faraway country, never really relaxing because you never knew if and when someone was going to take a shot at you or send a mortar round your way?

Probably wasn’t something you did over the weekend.

Yet thousands of men and women over the last decade and more have been there, done that – for you and me.

On Veterans day and every day we should be grateful. This has nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with basic decency, honor and respect.

We take it for granted. Families separated by distance and sometimes death. Dads and moms who leave children behind to serve in the name of our country. Husbands and wives who don’t see each other for months at a time, and sometimes never again.

Did you ever consider the impact on a family whose mom gets called overseas, followed by dad, leaving their 18th month old child with grandma? My heart aches when I don’t see my family for a few days, yet children pass milestones and birthdays, and all mom and dad can do is watch from a distance and feel the loneliness.

Next week my oldest son Timothy is graduating from Ranger School down at Fort Benning, Georgia. He actually lived there for 3 years of his life when I was stationed there, and this is the first time Nancy and I will be back since then. Tim is not a dumb kid. He is married, has a degree in criminal justice, and served as a Vermont State Trooper.

What drives men like Tim to give up relative stability, be away from his wife for months at a time and put himself in harms way?

I don’t pretend to know, but I am grateful they do.

So here’s my challenge to you today.

Be grateful, and then put some action behind that gratitude.

Maybe on Veterans Day it is as simple as saying thank-you, or paying for the Dunkins for the man or woman in uniform ahead of you in line. I think that is something I should start doing everyday, not just November 11th.

Don’t just let this day pass you by as another day off, let’s make something good happen today.

Let’s give someone else a reason to be thankful – promise?

Thank-You.

Coach Dean

Speaking of gratitude and Thanksgiving…

Our schedule for the week of November 25th is as follows:

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday – Full Schedule

Thursday, Friday – OFF

Saturday – World Famous “Pies Off The Thighs” post-Thanksgiving training gala. 8:00am @ Get Fit NH Concord – Be There!