While this has been a difficult and troubled year there is much to be thankful for here at the Richard hacienda. Health-wise all is good (although one gets the sense disaster is always somewhere lurking around the corner). I have a wonderful family and circle of friends. Tracey and I both have jobs, a roof over our heads, clean water to drink, food to eat, and really don’t want for anything. My sister-in-law Tam is (hopefully) just weeks away from having a place of her own. The fact that (at least for right now) we live in a free and open society only makes our lives that much more blessed.

My prayer this day for all of you who make Goodboys Nation weblog a regular (or even semi-regular!) stop on your daily web browsing is for a Thanksgiving surrounded by family and friends, and a sense of peace, joy, and blessedness. No matter how bad things can get – and they can get pretty bad, believe me! – there are things to be thankful for all around you; sometimes you just have to have the courage to look a little harder.

Happy Thanksgiving from all the Goodboys (for those interested, that’s L to R: 2Times, Killer, Cubby (kneeling), Doggy Duval, Deuce, Vegas, Goose, The Funny Guy, Possum, The Great White Shank, Gilligan, and Skipper) and everyone at Goodboys Nation weblog.

P.S. thanks to Ron “Cubby” Myerow for the pic.