The month of November always brings with it falling leaves, football, turkey, family, and a feelings of gratitude, but this year added to the theme and essence of the autumn month was Facebook. Being au courant of all things hip in social media, and awesome in general, I decided to join the trend of using my social media updates to express my gratitude for something each day of the month. I'm not sure where the idea incubated before going viral, but my inside anonymous source-of-a-wife told me she was going to be doing it, so naturally I jumped on the bandwagon.
Ironically enough I am grateful I participated in the "thanksperiment." As I sat down with my Macbook each night to contemplate what I wanted to publicly and permanently publish to the world, I was forced to be engaged in a personal reflection of what I have in my life and the blessings I have been given. Always knowing that whatever I resolved on expressing would become communal, it was interesting how I sometimes took time to consider every word and phrase I used (the 140 character limit on Twitter had a bit of a influence on this), and other times I just typed the first thing that came to mind. I struggled some days on deciding what to publicly express gratitude for. Some days I posted things that were on my mind due to the events of that day on the calendar, such as Veterans day or my mother's birthday.
Here is a recap of my "Thirty days of Thanksgiving:"
Day 1: Grateful for good friends.
Day 2: Grateful for a country that allows me to express my opinion, or keep quiet.
Day 4: Grateful for $0.49 Gatorade at Smith's.
Day 5: Grateful for Friday nights with his wife (and the Muppets).
Day 6: Grateful for a place to live and a car to drive, and a wife that loves to clean them with me.
Day 7: Thankful for April 2003-May 2005 and my California family. I miss you all.
Day 8: Thankful for a clear mind, eyes that see, ears that hear, lips that speak, shoulders that bear burdens, and legs that run and walk.
Day 9: Grateful for LDS Institutes of Religion and their willingness to take you back after a 5 year absence.
Day 10: Grateful for honest people and honest businesses that don't have to stoop to illegal action to get me to notice them.
Day 17: Thankful for memories and the ability to make more.
Day 23: Thankful for those that risk their lives to serve others. Armed forces, firefighters, police, bus/plow drivers,
