Appreciation

Thanksgiving and duck hunting last week gave me some good perspective on the things we enjoy in life... food, family, health.

Unfortunately for me, as is often the case when we learn a valuable lesson, this was due to reaction, rather than reflection.

For family, it was due to an unforeseen delay that prevented my uncle and cousin from joining us. Unfortunately for me, that was the least... direct example of how we often forget our good fortune:

Nothing reminds you of how much you appreciate the ease of your neighborhood supermarket and the wonders of pest control like sitting in a duck blind waiting for a small, foul-tasting bird to happen by while swarmed by a cloud of mosquitoes so thick that the buzzing drowns out conversation.

And based on how well I shoot, how often we saw ducks, and the fact that our clothing did nothing to stop the mutant vampire insects that probed us repeatedly for fresh fluids - had I been a tribesman hunting for my food, my family would have starved shortly before I succumbed to malaria.

Thank the Lord for thick, juicy meat of the Turducken and your neighborhood Publix!