Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Vote of Thanks

No quotes. Just one of a few lines that my indomitable cousin uttered:

‘Always be grateful.’


It is simple and short, like most things uttered in wisdom. But on this Thanksgiving, I really don’t have a choice. Things aren’t perfect but what would life be like if everything were? So here it goes:

Thank you for allowing me to appreciate life so much more. An obscure Sunday evening in November turned into mayhem by an accident that changed so many lives forever.

Thank you for allowing me to appreciate death. You were one of the most generous and genuine souls I had ever met and your death on the eve of Christmas’ own eve made me understand how finite and fickle life can be.

Thank you for being a friend when I thought that I had none. You may not realize it and I have not yet had the courage to revisit that time but your tolerance of me even when it must have been to the point of annoying is something I can never be grateful enough for.

Thank you for willing to be my friend and while I know it has not been reciprocated, it is I who must take the blame for being the lesser person.

Thank you for showing me that I can move on regardless of how bad things get. Your absorption with yourself and the world around you only served as fuel that drove us apart. Maybe it’s too late now.

Thank you for not calling when you came. It allowed me to assimilate things in a different perspective.

Thank you for calling. It was the one call I least expected but was most appreciated since it was one of only a few I received for my birthday.

Thank you for making my life that much more difficult because it brought out a courage in me that I didn’t realize I had.

Thank you for being the selfish, pretentious, untrustworthy snakes that you turned out to be. There can be no excuse for what the three of you did. You are bound to a higher standard. Now, I can recognize insincerity from a distance.

Thank you for listening to my venting.

Thank you for trying to make me be true to myself. It will come in time but you are responsible for starting the ball rolling and helping me to disregard the expectations of conformity from others.

Thank you for being there during the hardest time of my academic life. Your support and concern were not unnoticed and it is partly because of that that I can appreciate fully where I am now.

Thank you for putting up with a far from perfect son. It is almost automatic that you are taken for granted, but it could never be right.

Thank you for your words of wisdom. Never would I have thought that two simple lines would have such profound effect on the way I live my life.

Thank you for putting up with my less than bearable antics. I could have been a much better brother.

Thank you for believing in me. You seemed to be the only one that did or cared.

Thank you for giving me something to believe in. If not in 2007, then maybe in 2012.

Thank you for nothing. You taught me that I should work for what I want most and not expect instant gratification. Now I appreciate it so much more.

Thank you for being my partner in crime. We may be taken advantage of or trampled upon. But our intentions are always true and if one person is genuinely grateful for every ten that walk all over us, it still makes it worth it.

Thank you all for everything that has happened in the last year. It has made me who I am today and while it could have been better, as all things could, I regret not one day of it.

Thank you for life. It is only by your grace that I opened my eyes this morning and will do so tomorrow.

1 comment:

  1. I am in awe..not that I did not expect this level / quality of writing from you but the dedication to the blog and the way this flowed..and didn't flow.
    I enjoyed reading it.

    ReplyDelete