2022 Gratitude

Things for which I am grateful from the past year... and the years before...

1. My wife - The hardest working, most dedicated, most patient person I have ever known. We are a decade into a rock solid relationship that has, like all relationships, had its share of ups and downs. Three years ago, we moved at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to a small, Midwestern town. For the first two years, I hated every minute of it. Now I realize it was the best decision we could have made in the moment. And my admiration of this little corner of the world grows daily. The problem never was this place. My unhappiness has been caused by something else entirely. That's on me and on the list to be addressed... once and for all... in 2023.
2. My daughter - She's mostly like her mother. Thank ALL the gods for that. The pleasure of watching and listening to her gives me great and deep joy. Witnessing her grow up is a paradoxically bittersweet act. As of late, each night before bed, she says, "I will never, ever leave you." I need to do some dusting around here.
3. The basics - Roof over my head, food in my body, clothing, gainful employment, a future being built day in and day out.
4. Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus, Musonius Rufus - The "Core Four" Stoics. Each moment spent with them returns exponential dividends.
5. Ryan Holiday - For The Daily Stoic and for introducing me to Stoicism. I have gifted his works to those in whom I sensed hopelessness, confusion and loss. The gratitude I have received in return reinforces Ryan's mission. It's a mission in which we all can and should participate.
6. My daughter's teachers and the staff at her school - A group of loving, caring and dedicated individuals with her best interests at heart. I couldn't do what they do.
7. David Baerwald - We've reconnected after both making physical moves and both surviving a pandemic. His forthcoming book, The Fire Agent, is a historical novel of sweeping proportions.
8. Pete Pranica - The play-by-play voice of the Memphis Grizzlies. My brother in every sense of the word.
9. Magnum Coffee - I'm an insufferable asshole without copious quantities of Painted Black. Buy in bulk here. Take advantage of the free shipping.
10. My local library - A temple of knowledge. A sanctuary from the barbarism of the world. Staffed by priests and priestesses. Those are not their official titles... but they should be.

I'll leave you with this...

There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men.
— John Locke

And infintely more joy.