Happy Thanksgiving!

So many things to be grateful for this holiday season and for me... topping the list... the renewed health and well being of my "baby" boy and the fact that we are HOME for the holidays!

I am sorry that I have been so MIA here on the Butcher Block Exchange of late. It has been a long road to recovery with many bumps along the way and as you can imagine piles upon piles to dig out from under post hospital stay.

That said... I am thrilled to be back here with you today once again sharing some food for thought and inspiration about the attitude of gratitude as we head into the holiday season.

First up from Ralph Waldo Emerson.

For each new morning with its light,


For rest and shelter of the night,


For health and food, for love and friends,


For everything Thy goodness sends.


~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Followed by two thoughts that brought it all home for me today...

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude. ~Cynthia Ozick

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. ~William Arthur Ward

Last but not least I will close out with a bit of the Butcher's Wisdom and my appreciation to each of YOU for sharing this special space and place with me as we work together to find ways to grace each day with thanks.

This BlogSpot is Dedicated to Nick

I know I have been pretty invisible of late and I wish I could say it has been for reasons that I wanted to share and write about but that is not the case.

My youngest son Nick has been very ill recently and has been in the hospital for the past 10 days now and although his caregivers are great this has NOT been a fun experience and has been pretty rough on all of us.

To be honest over the past few days it has been especially difficult (as a result of some unexpected setbacks keeping us here longer than expected) and we have had to fight to keep our spirits up.

That said... we do realize that we are very lucky compared to many around us because we KNOW that Nick WILL be just fine overtime and stronger on the other side of this and that's what we try our best to focus on.

Reminds me of an old Indian tale my friend Betsy sent me awhile back that I have read and re-read about 1,000 times over the past 10 days.

So the story goes:

An elder Apache was talking to his grandchildren about life.

He told them, "A fight is going on inside me. It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, prejudice, lies, false pride, compliance, superiority, and ego."

"The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith."

He explained this same fight is going on inside of you, and inside every other person.

They thought about it for a minute, and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?

The wise old grandfather replied, "The one you feed."

Many thanks to Betsy for sharing this story with me, it has been an incredible source of inspiration of late. Whenever one of us starts to head down the pity-party path our new get back on track line of late has been...

"OK... so which wolf are you feeding now?"

In closing... I am asking for your prayers and positive energy again today as we so hope to get out of the hospital in time to "Howl at the Moon" from HOME tonight!

In the meantime sharing this post as my long over due food for thought and inspiration and asking all you readers...

"Which wolf are YOU feeding now?"