This year, I want to give particular thanks to having my wonderful wife, Holly, in my life for the last 15 years. She is absolutely the most amazing woman I have ever known. She is always there for her daughter, Carina, and me no matter how badly the wheels are falling off the cart. And, she was incredibly there for her parents in their final years. The energy and love that she devoted to her parents was so enormous that I was stunned, impressed and worried all at the same time. I humbly thought that I could never have shouldered what she so willingly took on. It is only now, almost a year later, that I am starting to see her sparkle and shine as when we first met.
Whew! I would be remiss to not also give thanks that our mountain community made it through another fire season. As I have mentioned in previous columns, a burned down house can be rebuilt. But, a burned down 100-year-old forest cannot. As much as I feel sorry for those who lose a beachfront home to a hurricane, their disaster doesn’t begin to compare to the magnitude of our potential disaster. The day after, their ocean view is still there, whereas our view will have been turned into a hillside of black tree trunks. So, every year at this time,
I give thanks for our good fortune and take an especially appreciative walk through the woods.
