It's not Thanksgiving, but I have plenty of reasons to give thanks

Remember the "un-cola" ads that ran years ago? I wonder if that's what gave a bright someone the idea of celebrating "un-birthdays," which are celebrations of birthdays at the six-month mark of the year. So, for those of you born in December, you've got an "un-birthday" coming up in June.

What made me think of it was that I have been feeling very thankful lately, and it's not even Thanksgiving. No matter. I am celebrating an "un-Thanksgiving" this month. Now, before you go rolling your eyes because there's a lot of stuff in the news and in the grocery store and at the gas pump to be not terribly thankful for, I am simply grateful that I can go a short distance and find food. Pretty cool.

My feet work, so if I can't buy a gallon of gas, I can walk. Takes more time, but I have time. I read once that if I had change in my pocket, I was better off than 90 percent of the world's population. So, if I can rub two quarters together as I saunter down the sidewalk, I'm thankful.

I am thankful I can turn the television off. I can choose to be quiet.

I don't say "thank you" enough, even if I give thanks every day, for the regular things: healthy children and family, employment, sharp co-workers, shelter, friends, love, freedoms of expression, spirituality, assembly, choice. I have the opportunity to live the Freedom of Information Act, the freedom of the Web, and the freedom to read what I please, and that makes me downright giddy with gratefulness. And it's free. I have libraries. Even if information gets skewed, redacted, warped, misinterpreted, misreported or otherwise manipulated, I have the freedom to seek it out as well as the responsibility to check it out.

I am thankful to my teachers, both within past classrooms and those who daily stand outside of them, for showing me my responsibility to think. I have had some of the best teachers in the world to keep me on my toes: students. Wow. How lucky am I? And when I've been plainly stupid or wrong, I am grateful for forgiveness and second chances.

I am thankful that services like waste management run regularly and that I can recycle. Potable water runs when I turn on the tap, the electricity rarely blinks out and calling 911 in an emergency will result in an impressive response. Snow is cleared from the roads. My city plants trees in parks it maintains for me to amble around.

Those folks who serve on my city council and county commission can wrangle and debate, those in my state government can squabble and argue, those of my federal government can filibuster and enact, sign or veto, hear cases and opine, and I am thankful for the lot of them.

It is so cool that I don't have to agree with any of them. Folks don't have to agree with me, and many often don't, but I am always grateful for the conversation. I can tap into a miasma of conversations worldwide, include my two cents or not, and be none the worse the wear for any of it.

I am thankful I have enough. I am grateful I can give, even a little, to those who don't have enough. I will clean my closets and cupboards and cabinets of the stuff of which I have too much, give it away, pop a little polish on my point of view, and maybe paint something. Because I can. And I am thankful.

Holly Hartwick was born and raised in Greeley. She is a literature and English composition instructor.