{"id":6114,"date":"2014-10-06T19:30:29","date_gmt":"2014-10-07T01:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/?p=6114"},"modified":"2014-10-06T19:32:44","modified_gmt":"2014-10-07T01:32:44","slug":"and-we-give-thanks-dailyand-we-give-thanks-daily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/?p=6114","title":{"rendered":"And, we give thanks daily"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/photos\/2014\/10\/givethanksjimz102014.jpg\" TITLE=\"Argentina image by Jim Zellmer  Landscape by God.\"><\/p>\n<p>Gazing toward yesterday, I have enjoyed many seemingly random events that suddenly morph into life assets.  My grandparents and parents showering me with a culture of entrepreneurship.  A grad student friend who opens so many doors.  Too many mentors who give freely and a chance meeting at a ski show that leads to my future wife.  <\/p>\n<p>Kanban: jobs and opportunities that appear &#8220;just in time&#8221;.   Many travel events, including one years ago, in Mexico.  A roommate and I somehow needing a lift from the Juarez airport to El Paso.  Astonishingly, several Control Data (<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Control_Data_Corporation\">who?<\/a>) executives were on our flight and kindly offered seats in their van.  <\/p>\n<p>Truly &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/biblehub.com\/psalms\/23-5.htm\">my cup runneth over<\/a>&#8220;. <\/p>\n<p>Yet, the inverse events, those where an old acquaintance reappears, suddenly, are the most poignant.  <\/p>\n<p>Finishing up a recent workout, I noticed an acquaintance, a father whose child shared a preschool class with ours many years ago.  Surprised, I said &#8220;I thought you migrated to warmer weather&#8221;.  &#8220;We still plan to&#8221;, he replied.  &#8220;We&#8217;ve had some personal challenges&#8221;.  He went on to describe a very painful series of parenting events with his eldest.  I could but wince while offering a hand and later prayers.  <\/p>\n<p>Later that day, another friend lamented at length on the state of our local public schools.  &#8220;No vision&#8221;.  &#8220;Money, Money, Money&#8221; and &#8220;disastrous reading&#8221;.  Yet, he is hopeful, smiling while advocating and instigating radical change.  Endless optimism.<\/p>\n<p>Another recent day found me talking with a more distant acquaintance.  I learned about the death of a young child due to a brain tumor.   While thinking about just what, if anything I could possibly say, he continued &#8220;we&#8217;re Catholics and have tried very hard to turn this tragedy into something positive for other kids&#8221;.   I continued listening, without comment as he mentioned the events that they have created and sponsored to raise funds for others.<\/p>\n<p>Emotional rivers. So much to be thankful for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gazing toward yesterday, I have enjoyed many seemingly random events that suddenly morph into life assets. My grandparents and parents showering me with a culture of entrepreneurship. A grad student friend who opens so many doors. Too many mentors who give freely and a chance meeting at a ski show that leads to my future [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6114"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6114"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6118,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6114\/revisions\/6118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}