Well, election evening sure was interesting, wasn’t it? As I write this I am a little tired because Jim and I stayed up a too late last night watching the returns. I bet you did something similar.

With all of that going on, I want to finish up this three-part series of the things for which I am grateful, stuff that I might have put on Facebook during the month of November if I was in more of a Facebook-sharing place right now. Here is the first list and here is the middle one.

So, generally, by this part of the month, I’d be stretching a little bit for things to write. So please forgive me if some of these are kind of out there, but I am grateful for…

1. Medical and mental health professionals. It’s easy to not appreciate them until you need them, but maybe one good thing about this nasty pandemic era is that we have them and the good they do right out there in front of us.
2. Other essential workers: the folks at the grocery store, or the folks picking up your trash. All of them.
3. While I’m at it, I am definitely grateful for the guys who work at the solid refuse stations here in Franklin County. When I take my stuff to the dump, I am usually also treated to some pleasant conversation and even some wisdom. Sometimes the guys at the dump are the friendliest people I’ll see all day. And y’all, people are friendly around here.
4. My dentist and his team. I started off the day with them yesterday and they are some of the nicest people out there.
5. Coffee. At home and anywhere I can get it (and fortunately, Roanoke has some fine establishments). That first sip of the morning is my favorite part of the day.
6. I can’t get the “make-a-list” function in WordPress to start lists at anything other than “1,” but if I could, this would be the “26” post, corresponding to November 26, or Thanksgiving. At the time I write this I don’t know who is going to be with us for the holiday (thanks, covid), but I am grateful for them nevertheless, whether you make it to our house or not.
7. Tortellini and white sauce. It’s my favorite meal and the creamy comforting goodness that we had for dinner last night.
8. Travel. It’s a memory right now, but in 2019 and early 2020 we did quite a bit of it and I very much look forward to doing it again.
9. Health. It’s another thing I take for granted too much, but I try not to.
10. Faith that sometime, hopefully soon, all of … this … is going to be behind us. I am certain that better times are ahead.