5 on a Friday

OK, those of you who know me, who really know me well, know how often I write things that would be construed as a 'positive' post. So, with that in mind I'm about to shock you and tackle something difficult for me. I'm going to steal from AlleyCat the idea of posting 5 things I'm grateful for or glad about this week. Let's see if I can even do it.

1. I biked today and I didn't die - To be more specific, I biked right past where people keep seeing the bobcats and I didn't get killed by them. I didn't even see them. And I had to bike by there again on the way back home, so that made twice today that I didn't die. Add to that the fact that I biked during a heat advisory which kept buzzing my stupid cell phone all day to warn me that it is really hot outside and still I didn't die despite the heat, despite the fact that the air felt like it came out of a furnace and was super thin and hard to breathe and this is really not entirely a joke. I am grateful that I didn't die, specifically today. It would suck to die on the side of the road in the scorching heat while a family of bobcats tore me to shreds. I'm so glad that didn't happen. Because it did happen to an unlucky skunk I passed and it made me think twice about turning around and going home when I saw the skunk parts thrown all over the place where something had ripped it apart and left the bones and fur on the steaming asphalt. That was no car that did that.

2. My air conditioning works - guess what always happens in the midst of a heat advisory? For one reason or another, either the power goes out across half the city, or else someone's air conditioning unit bites the dust. This week it was one of my neighbors. But it wasn't me. And even more than that, the air in my car is working fine, too. You might be thinking "why is that even an issue?" But that's only because you don't know my cars. I have a few. Most are really old. Most have had their air conditioners replaced already and it costs over $1000 each time. Once the factory air has been replaced it is never the same again. It never lasts as long the second time around and then you have to do it again if the car is still running and belongs to you. I am not in a position to replace any air conditioners right now. And it's too hot not to have air. So thank God I still have it.

3. I have my health,  such as it is - several people very close to me have experienced increasingly serious health issues these past few years. With each of them we all assumed whatever was wrong would be properly diagnosed and resolved fairly quickly, but it didn't happen that way. I was even told recently that my brother's wife may die, although I know very little about the details. I've got some health issues that are giving me cause for concern, or be annoyed, but nothing that threatens to kill me just now.

4. I have most of the things I want - When I say things, I mean literally things. There are certain goals I have for my life that I don't have, but as far as things go, objects that is, I have most of the things that I want. I don't have the exact guitar that I want, but I have a guitar that does what I need just fine. I don't have a brand new computer,  but I have one that works. I have more books to read than I can find shelf space for. I have my long desired digital SLR camera. This house is pretty much exactly what we need. Etc. I thought of this because I had a neighbor move away recently who had so few things left after her divorce that she was able to move with little more than a few pickup truck and trailer loads of furniture and not much else. There was no moving truck required. And she has 2 kids. That's not much stuff. I knew things were probably a little tight for her, but I had no idea that her house was basically empty for these past 2 or 3 years while they lived there trying to sell the house. My stuff isn't the best of the best, but it's good enough. I can't think of any 'thing' that I need desperately and don't have.

5.  I live in America - There are only a handful of places that I would ever want to live - America, Australia, Canada - but a great many places I would most definitely NOT want to live. America has its problems, to be sure, and they just seem to keep growing worse. But even so, we are not nearly as bad off as most of the world in terms of suffering under a totally oppressive regime, experiencing extreme poverty and hunger, or being ravaged with diseases and plagues. There are some truly horrific places to live in this world, mostly due to rampant corruption. The United States obviously has its share of corrupt officials in high places. But we don't have corruption at every single level, among every single leader and official, to such an extent that it is simply accepted and done openly. In many countries you can't live from day-to-day without being forced to bribe various officials and police around you in order to get them to leave you alone and let you live your life. Prosperity is virtually unheard of in those places. Even their corrupt leaders have to fly to rotten places like Cuba for health care when they are sick because their own extreme corruption has destroyed the medical practices of their own country. We are fast approaching this level of corruption in America, but we still have a way to go yet before we're a straight up third world hell.

So anyway, that's what I'm grateful for this week. I hope you have a great weekend and have at least 5 things  in your life that you can be thankful for.

I'm grateful that this isn't my car