Thankful

With Thanksgiving coming up and some friends doing a Thankful Daily post I decided that I should do one as well. 
I'm thankful for many things this year because as you all know, NJ was hit hard with Hurricane Sandy and a Noreaster.  I am minutes away from the large towns that you see on the news, Seaside Heights, Bricktown, Ortley Beach etc....but our little town lost a lot too.  I have co-workers that lost their homes and everything they own including their cars, we have kids in school that have nothing and are living with friends and family in other towns and when I see the devastation in my own town I have to be thankful for only having lost my power for 20 hours during the hurricane and 13 hours when the noreaster hit.  The principal of our school lost his car and power for 10 or 11 days.  He would come to school as if nothing happened and be smiling and understanding to the children and staff....yet, he'd run home to power up the generator so his elderly mother would have heat and lights during the day and then again at the end of the day.  Our school is doing food and clothing drives for the children, we have staff on hand  letting the kids talk it out and we are attempting to collect $$ and such for the staff that need to get back too some semblance of normal life.
So, you say I'm thankful ?  Yes, I have no loss of property or damage to my home, our health is good (yeah, yeah, I have a bum knee and bad shoulder but.....) we have our jobs and my kids all made it thru this with I think with a better understanding of "hard times".  My family is in the food industry and at one point the lobby of one of the stores was a hang out of sorts for people who needed to power up their cell phones etc.
The store provided tables and chairs in the foods to go area, coffee and donuts, lots of extension cords for powering up computers and phones and heaters were placed around to give warmth.  My kids had never seen this and came home with a gained introspect on what others go thru.
So, I know this is longwinded but I needed to put it out there that I am THANKFUL this year for many things.

Now, to move onto the holiday at hand, then our Christmas celebration and then once the New Year comes we'll have our daughter's wedding on April 27th.   THAT is going to be the highlight of 2013...I can't wait.  Jen and Tim are so perfect together and I can't wait for that celebration.  Here's a picture they had taken soon after the engagement. 

I want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving....

What are you thankful for?

Peggy