Thankful

Thanksgiving ranks among my favorite holidays. It includes the focus on family and the traditions, but it’s among the holidays we’ve managed to keep a little simpler. Over the past month many of my Facebook friends have been recounting things for which they’re thankful. Their words have served as an inspiration leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday.
    I haven’t recounted all of the things in life for which I’m thankful on the social media mega site, but thought I might recount a few of them here. I call them “things” for lack of a better term, but most of them really can’t be categorized as assets in any modern accounting program.
    I’m thankful for family, both here in northeast Wyoming and in other parts of Wyoming and beyond. I’m lucky enough to have a wonderful husband and two great boys. My parents and my sister live nearby and I still enjoy the company of three of my four grandparents. How wonderful is that?
    I’m thankful I get to call Wyoming home and am convinced it is the best state in the nation. Each time I leave the state, whether traveling for business or pleasure, I’m quickly reminded what a great place it is. I only hope we can protect those amenities that make it special for future generations. While we’re not perfect, I sometimes wonder if D.C. could learn a thing or two from Wyoming’s approaches to some very important issues.
    I’m thankful for ranch living and the opportunity it’s providing us to raise our kids in a setting that teaches work ethic, responsibility, compassion and an appreciation for life. I love our twice-a-day trips to and from the school bus, working together, playing together and building something together. I appreciate the opportunity our lifestyle provides to apply my dad’s rule of “make what’s wrong hard and what’s right easy,” whether talking about horses or kids.
    I’m thankful for our freedoms to speak and be heard, whether we agree with the majority or find ourselves questioning the current path. More and more often I find myself questioning the direction our nation is headed, but I still hold true to the belief that the citizens of this country will steer America back in the right direction. Special mention of thankfulness goes out to those men and women who have served or are serving our great nation to ensure those freedoms remain intact.
    Friends and neighbors in Weston County give us a great deal for which to be thankful. We moved to northeast Wyoming a little over a year ago and it quickly felt like home, due in large part to the great people who make up this unique community.
    I’m thankful for the dedicated folks who make up the Wyoming FFA Foundation board of directors. It’s due in large part to them, and the students who belong to the program we support, that I feel so optimistic about this country’s future. We continually, with help from program supporters, invest in students who are on the right track to career success, which will help our economy, and quality leadership, which will take us in the direction we need to go.
    I’m thankful for the countless opportunities in life we enjoy. Whether it’s writing this column or other pieces, our involvement with the FFA Foundation or the life we live in northeast Wyoming, we truly have been blessed.
    It’s those blessings on which we’ll be reflecting this Thanksgiving. We’ll think of family and friends, freedoms and opportunities and all of life’s meaningful gifts.
    Jennifer Vineyard Wo-mack is executive director of the Wyoming FFA Foundation and a freelance writer. She can be reached at Womack@Wyoming.com or at 307-351-0730.