As to whom I’m thankful to (See Steve Crain’s religion column on page C7), that’s between me and the thankee.
I am grateful for:
My wife, Brenda, who sticks with me despite (to quote Sen. Sam J. Ervin Jr.) my many rough edges and sharp corners.
My grown sons, Jacob and Ben, and my daughter, Kate, who now must also be considered grown — in all of whom I am well pleased.
Dogs that slurp you but know not to jump up on you with muddy paws.
Cats that let you stroke their stomachs without switching into bared-claws mode.
The fact that gas prices have come back down out of the stratosphere. (But who would have thought that $2.27 a gallon would seem low?)
Those scrumptious Toblerone chocolate bars from Switzerland.
A job I love.
A talented and dedicated staff.
A great county to cover.
Old-fashioned charcoal grills. (I’m going back to them, having had it with trying to use the propane kind, which bake your steak through convection heat instead of searing it with good old radiant heat, like that from the coals of a caveman’s fire.)
Books by David McCullough.
Ellen Danika ivy plants.
The presence in our midst of true, old-fashioned gentlemen of a kind that have all but disappeared — men like Norris Hodgkins, Felton Capel, Marshall Berg, Mohsin Ali and our own Locke Bowman.
SunFlix, which makes it possible to go to the Sunrise Theater in downtown Southern Pines and see wonderful movies that you would otherwise never get to see locally, such as “Capote,” “Ladies in Lavender” and “March of the Penguins.” And if you choose, you can enjoy a glass of wine while doing it.
Living in a place where it’s possible to see a local stage play of such near-Broadway caliber as the splendid, just-closed production of Neil Simon’s “Jake’s Women,” directed for Moore OnStage by Rod Harter, and with too many sterling performances to list here.
Kilian’s Irish Red beer.
Unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts.
Small children who haven’t learned yet that it’s not cool to be caught displaying a sense of joy or wonder.
The songs of the wood thrush and the bobwhite quail. The fact that neither is heard nearly enough these days ought to be some kind of environmental wake-up call.
Comedian Bill Maher, who might qualify as one of the wisest and most perceptive men of our age if he could just learn to control his garbage mouth and cool it with the thing he has against organized religion. (Watch him next time he’s a relatively restrained guest on “Larry King Live,” and you’ll see what I mean. His own over-the-top show on HBO is less impressive.)
Tally Bandy, our beloved deacon at Emmanuel Episcopal Church.
Movie director Ridley Scott (“Gladiator,” “Black Hawk Down,” “Kingdom of Heaven”), who makes solid, entertaining, thoughtful movies that employ spectacular special effects — not for their own sake but in support of intelligent plots.
The fact that our public school system, under Superintendent Susan Purser, seems to have gone back to the business of teaching kids instead of generating controversy.
“The West Wing.”
CNN’s recently premiered news show, “The Situation Room,” which puts Wolf Blitzer back where he belongs: in prime time.
The sleek, fascinatingly sinister look of the new Chrysler 300.
Monetta Johnston, the nice lady at the Farmers’ Market on Pennsylvania Avenue.
The fact that Moore County has just been through another highly successful local exercise of the democratic process, in which all our municipalities elected good, strong board members who ran out of a sense of civic duty.
The ability, now that they’ve opened that breathtaking new bridge, to drive across the Cooper River in Charleston without later having to have someone use a putty knife to pry my fingers loose from the steering wheel.
Wood furniture kits.
The fact that we Americans, despite the many differences that polarize us, still agree among ourselves more than we disagree on the fundamentals of what makes our country the greatest in the world. Let’s all pray that it doesn’t take another 9/11 to make us realize that and bring us back together.
Steve Bouser is editor of The Pilot. Contact him at sbouser@thepilot.com
