Number 500!!

This will be my 500th post on this blog.
And the crowd goes wild!!!!!

I wanted to write about gratitude again.

I just finished reading a Los Angeles Times article about the price of gas in a small rural Alabama community. I read that some people walk up to the pumps with gas cans and even mason jars - depending on the amount of money they have.

I just drove from Easton to Hershey to Easton for work. I had to fill up along the way. I just swiped my debit card. Yeah, sure the company gives me mileage. But the point is I'm able to pay for it and wait for the expense check.

There was a time when that would have been a problem.

There was a time, when Heather was in middle school and then high school, when I thought myself rich to have $25 to $30 for the weekend - and maybe that was going to last me for the rest of the week. Of course, prices weren't as high as they are now and Heather was a great kid who was content with playing in the band for Saturday football games and having $5 to spend. I also was content having $5 to spend on a couple of glasses of wine Friday night when I went out with friends.

Today that $25-$30 might not see me through a Barnes and Noble outing. My psychologist and I have come to the conclusion that I have a lot of books around me as a metaphorical wall, to keep people out. Okay, I'll accept that - as long as I have something to read.

But I digress...back to gratitude.

Thank you, God, Goddess, Allah - whoever - thank you for my job that allows me to live better than the people of Coy, Alabama. And thank you, for the reporter who wrote that story and brought me back to reality.

My daughter may live 3000 miles away - but I can afford to visit her.
I may be chubby - but I can afford to buy healthy food and clothes that fit.
I may have a stressful job - but at least I have a job.
I may have a psychologist - but at least I have health insurance to pay for it and besides she laughs at my jokes.
I may have a wall around me, but it's built with bricks called Poe, Oates, Twain, King, Shayne, Braun, Lewis...mysteries, horror, hystories, romance, literary, poetry...

And this is my 500th post.
And the crowd is still going wild!