Grateful

I am grateful for the good memories of my family during the good times

I am grateful for the lessons of fiscal responsibility, goal setting and how to start and finish a project from my father

I am grateful for the unconditional love, relentless belief in my dreams, example in being a decent human being and how to be a loving parent from my mother

I am grateful for the example of how to be a good husband, how to do a job right, how to research something properly, and how to care for someone you love from my stepfather

I am grateful that every time I smile (when I smile) I have a whole tooth from my step mother and I have never and will never forget it; for it is among the things of which I am most grateful after having spent my formative years never smiling with a gap in my tooth; it is why I give her a gift every year for her birthday

I am grateful for my best and longest and truest friend, for the smartest person I know, the single holiest and most honorable member of his faith and the best father that I have ever met or know in my brother

I am grateful for my sister who reached out to reunite us after years apart, who has grown wise in her years, whose relentless service to those under her protection shows what a caregiver truly is and who is a sterling and remarkable mother

I am grateful that I have a passionate for justice, erudite and intelligently well read brother who for some reason I can't fathom actually likes my podcast, but I'm grateful to have SOMEONE actually listen to the damn thing

I am grateful to have a kind, wise (yes actually wise for she is the one), loyal sister and mother who is well read, and a servant to those who need her most, the most excellent example of Servant Leadership I have ever encountered

I am grateful to have a sister who is caring for my ailing father...and who teaches me to always hold out hope for change

I am grateful for a brother who seems on the surface to be just the surface, but who consistently proves expectations wrong with his cunning, his intelligence, and the absolute adoration from his children and family that is unmatched in anyone I know.  Were I a father, I would take lessons from them.

I am grateful that my siblings have excellent spouses (4 out of 5 isn't too bad), and I am grateful that I learned the word Quotidian from a Nazi.