Every Year is Worth Thanking

Everyone is bashing 2016. The reviews aren't good: What an awful year! Don't let the door hit you on the way out! Worst year ever!

We can all list the reasons: the election, terrorist attacks, the election, ISIS, the election, Syria, the election, Zika, the election and all the celebrities we lost.

Here's a challenge: List five gifts 2016 gave you.

No cynicism or sarcasm. Just gifts.

Here are a few of mine:

1. Life: I'm still here. Turning 60 in May was a "Get To." I lost two cousins this year and lost a friend who was younger than me. I got to grow old. Every day above ground is a good day, so 2016 gave me 365 good days.

2. Family: We lost my mom, but her granddaughter, Rachel, had a baby girl a month later. The circle of life goes on.

My mom's legacy: her 11 children, their spouses and children.

3. Joy: I celebrated 20 years of marriage with my husband. Our son, Joe, got engaged. My friend Sharon, a single mom, married Eric, a single dad, so now both of their sons have a mom and a dad, and they are now brothers. And...Sharon & Eric are expecting a baby in March.

4. Small victories: Every day with my grandchildren is a gift. Asher, 7, is reading chapter books; Ainsley, 5, started kindergarten and River, 3,  thinks she's a pirate, a princess and the Statue of Liberty, sometimes all in the same day. 

5. Big victories: Cleveland, the city I call home, hosted the Republican National Convention without a flaw; our Cavs won the NBA title and 1.3 million people celebrated with a parade without a flaw and our baseball team made it all the way to the World Series.

My cousin Andy says he only has two kinds of days: Good days and great days.

Why not apply that to years? Maybe 2016 wasn't a great year, but it was still a good one.