For the folks with whom I’ve worked and played, for the bloggers I’ve met and become friends with, for the people I’ve shared the last year with: Thank you.

Because I know people who seem at a perpetual lack of understanding about these things, the feast itself is merely a reminder.

Giving thanks is something you must remember to do.

Hwo do you give thanks? Well, you KNEW I was gonna tell you, didncha?

You give thanks by being the kind of friend your friends are to you. You give thanks by being there when people need you. Even those people who don’t deserve or appreciate your help. You give thanks by doing what is right, all the time. When you do those things for others, when you go out of your way to help, that is true thanksgiving. When you give thanks, you give of yourself, and that is what others need from you most.

Giving thanks is a lot like praying. When I say that people are in my prayers, when I pray for people, I certainly don’t mean to imply that I’m on my knees reciting some prayer, or that I’m reeling off a list of people “and god bless Steve H, and god bless Francis Porretto….” (not that either of those things doesn’t happen) No, I mean that I’m offering up the work that i do and the life I live to the Creator. Because living your life, because being in the thick of life, and doing the best job you can of living it, is the best prayer I, personally, can offer the Creator. If you have to wait until you get to a specific building or a specific room in the house or do a specific thing, then you’ve missed the point.

You are all in my prayers, every day, as I try to be the best Og I can be. I hope it’s enough.