Living in the USA is reason enough for us to be thankful

Almost everybody reading this newspaper has plenty to be thankful for. Most of us have plenty to eat, a house to live in, clothes to wear and many other things that people in other parts of the world do not have.

Don Estep is publisher of the News Journal.

I am thankful we have freedom of the press and freedom of religion among other things.

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks for all the good things that we have. One of those is family. Although my family is smaller than when I was young, I am still thankful that we can get together and enjoy Thanksgiving Day.

I come from a big family. I was the youngest of eight children and the only boy when we got together for our Thanksgiving meal. I had a brother who was killed in a plane crash during World War II and three other siblings that died in their infancy. Thus, I come from a family of 13 children.

It was a wild scene at our Thanksgiving meal at our parents’ house. Usually, at least three or four of my sisters would be there with their husbands and children. It was always a house full.

My dad was a diehard Republican and all of my sisters married Democrats. Those discussions after the meal were something else.

Unlike today, when opposing party and politics can cause hate and anger, I would get a kick out of my dad always winning the arguments and everybody left laughing.

Our little house was so crowded there wasn’t room at the table for all of us.

I ate very few Thanksgiving meals at the dinner table. I had to find a seat elsewhere.

How I miss those good times. This year only one of our three daughters can be at our house for Thanksgiving, but we will have a few others there.

I am thankful that my wife of almost 60 years will be doing the cooking. I didn’t marry her for her cooking talents, but I sure got lucky because she is an excellent cook. We eat out often to give her a break from the kitchen, but nowhere do we go that has food as good as what she cooks.

You might say that I hit the jackpot when she said “yes” to me on June 1, 1964. Obviously, I didn’t know about her cooking talents.

But with all we have to be thankful for, we can look around the world and see people that can only be thankful that they are still alive.

We are living in a time that I don’t believe all our fellow Americans are thankful we have so much to be thankful for. So remember, when you say that Thanksgiving prayer, be thankful you live in the United States of America.