Dear Reader,

Good morning,

Today I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to you.

I am immensely grateful that you spend time with us every day.

There are a million things you could be doing, but you tune in and listen to our videos and read our stuff.

That means a lot to us.

I’ve said this before, and it is so true…

The old Frank Sinatra line.

A young musician was complaining to ol’ blue eyes, saying, “oh, I hate signing all these records for people.”

Frank Sinatra had gone through plenty of ups and downs by then and knew a little thing or two.

He said, “if you think fans aren’t important, try selling records without them for a while.”

That always struck me.

And I always think back to his line in business.

If you think customers are not important, try doing business without them for a while.

It’s not a thing.

My son says to me, “you’re the boss, you should take the day off. You should take the week off. Why do you work so hard?”

I told him, it doesn’t really work like that.

I have a boss. My boss is our customers.

And I have employees. If they see the old man slipping up, they’re going to work slow.

I have to keep up the pace - show these young whippersnappers I can still set the pace in terms of work ethic.

I was talking to a friend of mine who’s a Daughter of the American Revolution. Her family came over on the Mayflower in 1620.

It’s amazing - these Protestants left England in 1620, about 20 years after Henry VIII’s daughter Elizabeth died. She really created the Church of England.

The Stewards took power back, strong on Catholicism, and the Protestants left England.

This is 20 years before Cromwell and the English civil wars about this.

So these people left England to come to America.

They landed in Plymouth Rock, and you know, an Indian named Squanto helped save the lives of these people.

It’s really amazing to me that this day of gratitude was brought up because starving Pilgrims were so grateful for the help they got.

So, their new governor, William Bradford proclaimed this day a day of gratitude.

I remember learning this when I was young, but didn’t remember the whole thing.

But my friend was telling me George Washington actually proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving as America won its War of Independence.

And then - I didn’t know this either - it was Honest Abe, Abe Lincoln, who in 1863 formally declared Thanksgiving a national holiday.

Now, for those of you who don’t know, Abe Lincoln is my favorite president for a bunch of reasons.

It’s Abe Lincoln, George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt and FDR, and then there’s a bunch of them - Reagan.

But basically, when we have Thanksgiving, I go around the table and ask everybody what they’re thankful for.

I have a big list this year.

There’s always something I’m thankful for every single day.

That’s the secret to my life. I live in gratitude. I feel blessed. I tap dance to work most days, and I’m very lucky to be alive.

Every day is a gift from God. That’s how I view things.

I’m very lucky that way.

It’s just the way I see things at this stage in my life.

I have a lot to be thankful for, and a lot of it is because of you, our members. 

So, I just wanted to say thank you.

Thank you for being on this journey with us.

I am truly thankful for you on this Thanksgiving, and I hope you get a chance to connect with your family and know that you are loved.

I hope you have a great meal and not too much family drama, because I know that comes with it, too.

Happy Thanksgiving.

"The Buck Stops Here"