Category Archives: thanksgiving

Thanksgiving in the Here and Now

This is a napkin I drew last year but it’s one of my favorites so I give it to you again.

Thanksgiving

Right here and right now I love my family and friends, those I have known forever and those whom I met recently. Thank you for being in my life.

The Gratitude of Escape

gratitude of escape

Some things I escaped, for which I am grateful.

  • Losing an Eye – 1955/1965 – Numerous cuts around my eyes as a kid. My nickname in my family was ‘Stitch’.
  • War/Combat – 1972/73 – Was just young enough to not be drafted during the Vietnam war.
  • Injury – 1972 – Private plane landing.  Tire went flat on landing, but not before we had slowed down considerably.
  • Rape/Death – 1973 – Got in the car of a stranger during a severe rainstorm at LaGuardia Airport. Talked my way out of it successfully.
  • Death – 1973 boat explosion – Severely burned but survived.
  • Injury/Death – 1989 Loma Prieta/World Series Earthquake – Very close to the epicenter in Santa Cruz county.
  • Injury/Death/Arrest – 1993 – driving while intoxicated – Stopped drinking in May of that year.
  • Nasty Divorce – 2000 – First wife Kathy and I had an amicable divorce and remain good friends and supporters.

What have you escaped for which you are grateful?

Drawing and List by Marty Coleman, Publisher of The Napkin Dad Daily

Quote by Anonymous

Diverse Gratitude Have I

diverse gratitude

Are you grateful for one of these?  What image would you add to represent your gratitude this Thanksgiving season?

Drawing and questions by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily

Quote by me.

A Thanksgiving Poem

It’s day #4 of Gratitude Week

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A Thanksgiving Poem

A Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends, family and friends I haven’t met yet, in America and around the planet!  I appreciate you all very much and love you even mucher!


Drawing and poem by me.

If A Fellow Isn’t Thankful For What He’s Got

Thank goodness today is day #3 of Gratitude Week at The Napkin Dad Daily

I ran the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa this past Sunday.  I didn’t do well during most of the race.  It wasn’t anything about training, nutrition, hydration,  race day preparation or even my time (which was bad) that makes me say that.

It was my attitude. I started out with a mess up finding the people I was going to run with.  It was crowded and I was alone, no running buddies.   My legs were sluggish to start.  My attitude wasn’t infused with thankfulness or love, it was infused with bother.  I was bothered by walkers. I was bothered by gatorade spilling on my hands. I was bothered by music bands along the way.  I was bothered by my inability to get my body in gear to keep at the pace I wanted.

Two things changed that.  At mile 21 I finally met up with two of the runners I was going to run with.  They were both stopped and in great pain.  One had to keep walking, the other started running with me.  She had injured her knee half-way through and was crying.  We kept plugging along for the next 5 miles, running, walking, running as best we could.  I was beat, she was even more beat. But she kept going with me.  All my bother melted away and I was only thinking about getting us both over the finish line.  And we made it together.

The other thing?  A young man, 27 years old, had collapsed and died on the 1/2 marathon route.  Need I say more?  Nothing changes an attitude quicker than realizing the old adage ‘There but for the grace of God go I’.  I have lived twice as long as he did. I have had marriages, children, love, travel, pleasure, pain, great friends and family. Many of these things are lost to him now and forever. 

It was a sobering reminder that my attitude, as long as I am alive, should continually strive to be at, or move towards gratitude, thankfulness and love.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman

Quote by Frank A. Clark, 1911-1991, American Pastor and Aphorist
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