Here are 5 things I am thankful for in 2022.

Here are 2021 and 2020.

#1
I am so thankful for my wife and kids. I know I say this every year – but they are one of the main joys of my life. A few weeks ago, I heard a billionaire on some show get asked what success was. He said, “grown children that want to come home to visit.” That seems spot-on to me.

#2
I am thankful that I am regularly the only employee in my office. I share the space with one coworker, but he is rarely there (off meeting with customers). The company I work for is also nearly 100% distributed. Because of all this, I am able to dress casually. Extremely casually. During the summer I often wear sandals, shorts, and a t-shirt as if I am headed to the beach. I admit – it’s a charmed life.

#3
I am thankful for long walks. Honestly, work has been a complete pile of trash this last year – and I have less day-to-day margin than I ever planned. I rarely get to leisurely flânerie anymore. This makes the times that I do get to go for a nice long stroll that much more special.

#4
I am so thankful for grace. We, humans, are so awful. We deserve nothing. We make the wrong choices every single day (if only in our hearts). And yet we are so loved by our creator. I am thankful that my oldest accepted Christ this year. And I am so thankful for the forgiveness we are all offered.

#5
I am thankful for dividends. 🤣 No really, hear me out. Small deposits over time compound. And then the dividends that they produce, if reinvested, compound too. Over the course of a decade, this cash drip can become a small creek and then an actual river. (If you are able to stand the drawdowns, you can achieve some incredible returns.) I am finally at a place to make some life-changing moves when ready. I. Can’t. Wait.

Dividend day is my favorite day of the quarter.

— Sterling Terrell 📚 (@SterlingTerrell) November 10, 2022

Without preamble, here are 5 things I am thankful for in 2021.

Here is 2020.

#1
I am so thankful for my kids. They make me a little crazy sometimes. (Bedtime tonight for example.) But they also brighten my days in ways that I never knew could be done. Scooters, bikes, walks, barbies, dress-up, princesses, quarantine, and coaching basketball: This dad is here for it.

#2
I am thankful for flying. See, I have gotten to travel a bit this last year for work. And, honestly, I love the travel days. Airport parking, boarding passes, lunch with dessert in terminal B, reading in lounges, ginger ale, an afternoon above the clouds. It totally sucks being gone from the family… But I enjoy flying.

#3
I am thankful for this blog. It sounds stupid to say. But every day that I continue writing and posting is another day that I didn’t give up. And I am proud of it the longer it goes. More coffee. More reading. More writing.

#4
I am thankful for a new job. Honestly, in the turmoil of my last job, I could not see the next steps my life would take. And then this dream fell out of the sky and landed in my lap. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

#5
I am thankful for Christmas lights. On our late-night walks, we have already enjoyed looking at the lights people have put up this year. We weave around through surrounding neighborhoods on the moonlit streets and marvel at the glowing houses we pass. It’s especially sweet to see the mystery of it all dance in the eyes of my (almost) two-year-old. We even put Christmas lights on our house for the first time this year.