Yes, I am the luckiest man on the planet.  To live on Kauai surrounded by the natural beauty, to have a loving and growing family, to have my health, to be able to do the work that I do and to be surrounded by a wonderful and supportive community of friends – is downright incredibly awesome.  I often tell folks that I am stuck in a positive feedback loop and for that I have only family and friends to thank.

There are so many of you who are part of my life and are probably not aware of how much I am inspired by who you are, for I am blessed to be surrounded by heroes.

While I applaud those “every day heroes” who are in our classrooms, our hospitals and sprinkled throughout our community, my thanks today goes out especially to those unique individuals who go the extra mile and who work relentlessly toward the goal of making our island and our planet a better place.

I am speaking of those who  are willing to stand up and be counted and speak truth to power even when the topic is controversial and the position perhaps unpopular.  These are the individuals who show up, put there shoulders to the task at hand and who make significant personal sacrifices in pursuit of making our community and our world a better place.

To all of you from the bottom of my heart, I say thank you.

Today?  What am I doing this Thanksgiving Day?  Well…Claudette has me helping out in the kitchen this morning, mixing the sweet potato casserole sifting the powdered sugar and washing a never ending flow of dirty dishes.  Later this afternoon we join the Tangalin side of the family in Lihue for our traditional Thanksgiving Day feast after which I will no doubt stretch-out on the couch and take my traditional post Thanksgiving Day nap 🙂

Yes indeed, I am the luckiest man on the planet.