What I'm Thankful For.................

You learn about yourself when you are alone. When you are left with only your thoughts, it changes you. There is no where to hide in your mind. Your thoughts become inescapable and unrelenting. You are no longer the product of your environment, you become an individual. You are left with the memories of the past, and the dreams for the future. You are able to step out of the confinement of your daily life, and appreciate the wonderful things in your life. I can now see what I have. I would not be the person that I am, if it weren’t for the wonderful support system in my life. I would not be able to risk everything for a dream, if I didn’t know that I could always come home if I failed; if I didn’t know there would be someone to pick me up after I fell.
The people in my life, the people that constitute my support, are as diverse as I am. The people that you surround yourself with identify who you are, and I can happily claim that I am both proud and honored to be represented by all of you. The people in my life are as diverse as the life that I live. Some of you have been with me since the beginning; some of you grew up with me; and some of you I’ve only met recently.
My family, no matter how dysfunctional, has been with me since the beginning, and they are the very foundation of the person that I am. Some people never have the opportunity to have a family, for some reason, I was given multiple that combine to create one. I can never express how grateful I am for everything that you have done for me, Mom, Dad. You allowed me to become the man that I am. You let me make mistakes, you still loved me; you let me make bad decisions, you still loved me; you let me disagree with you, you still loved me. I can never express how grateful I am. All I want is to make you proud. Tucker, Leah, Jake, we have been through a lot, and there were certainly times when we thought we couldn’t stand each other. However, through it all, we know that we’re brothers and sister, and I love and miss you. I hope you can be proud of me. Grandpa, I didn’t get to tell you this, but I am going to be the man that you taught me to be. You taught me so much about life, and interacting with those around me. You showed me how important family was, it was everything to you. You showed me how strong the bond of a family was. I hope that I will be able to create the same love, caring, respect, and bonds in my own family. I miss you, I love you, and it hurts me to remember that you will not be there when I come home. We are lucky to have been so close. We have all had our difficulties and trials, people have come and gone from our lives, but the one thing that has remained the same through all the years has been the family. I love and miss all of you, and I hope that I can make you all proud.
There are people outside of my family who I am equally as thankful for. They come from all different aspects of my life. Some of you I grew up with, some of you I met on my winding road of a life. I’ve learned so much from all of you, some of you changed my life, and my views on the world. I am not able to talk to you as much as I would like, but I wanted to thank you for enriching my life, and showing me that there is more out there. I’ve made some great friends and I hope those friendships last a lifetime. I want to thank the “guys” for being there for me. We certainly gone through, been in, and caused our share of trouble. We have gotten each other through a lot. I want you guys to know I’ll always be there for you, even if I’m across the country. Dave, you are someone I know I can count on. We have had our adventures and I hope that there are many more to come. Thank you for everything.
So this thanksgiving, it is the people in my life that I am thankful for. It is the people in our lives that are the most important, not work, school, or money. It is the person that you can’t stop thinking about; it is the Sunday morning with the family; it is the friend who will go to taco bell at 3 a.m. just because you don’t want to go by yourself; it’s the person you can call who just listens. We all need to take a step out of the hectic whirlwind that is our daily lives, and look at the people around us. Just take the time to appreciate how much they mean to you, and tell them. Thank you all for getting me to this point and this is only the beginning. I want more than anything to make you all proud.