I Have Much To Be Thankful For This Year

Each Thanksgiving I’m able to think of a few things to be thankful for. This year it is easy — I’m alive! For those just joining in, I had a hemorrhagic stroke on the afternoon of Friday February 1, 2008. I spent the next roughly 14 hours on the cold concrete floor in my loft before my friend Marcia got worried and came looking for me. The ambulance took me to Saint Louis University Hospital. The next three weeks were spent in SLUH’s Intensive Care Unit. I was in two additional hospitals for care & therapy before returning home three months later on April 30th. Like I said, I’m just thankful to still be alive!

I’m also thankful for my friends & family, their support has been wonderful. Normally I would have the support of my parents but both are now deceased. But my friends, brothers + spouses, nieces, aunts, uncles & cousins have all been there for me. I cannot imagine going through the past 10 months without them.

I’m thankful to have moved downtown. This has allowed me to live very independently since returning home from the hospital.

I’m thankful I found the drive to continually push myself to recover the use of my left side. I’m thankful I didn’t lose my long-term memory. I’m thankful my short-term memory has improved greatly.

I’m also very thankful I lived long enough to see the U.S. elect a black man to be President! Maybe in 8 years we’ll elect a lesbian of say Latino or Asian heritage? I’m thankful I can now imagine that possibility. I’m thankful my faith in the future of our country has been restored. We face some challenges ahead but I’m thankful we elected the right person for the job.

I am thankful to be back in grad school and getting close to finishing my Masters degree in Urban Planning & Real Estate Development.

I’m very thankful to you, the reader. It is great encouragement to see the daily statistics on traffic to the site and to be a part of the exchange of ideas. Agree or disagree makes no difference to me, just have a viewpoint and be willing to share it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

– Steve