November 25, 2004
Thursday November 25, 2004 • Howard Tayler

Giving Thanks
entry,

I'm glad I've been able to spend the last two months cartooning. I'm thankful that I've been able to spend so much more of that time with my family. I'm grateful for that family -- for all their quirks and quibbles, noise and noisomeness, and especially their affection. I've had more family time in the last sixty days than I had in the preceding sixty weeks (and we've given the last sixty MONTHS a good run), and it's been the best sixty days I can remember.

I'm thankful for my faith, and for the strength it gives me in times of trial. I'm even kinda-sorta thankful for trial, because as I look back at the assorted flavors of crap I've endured (yes, "flavors" is the right word) I understand that enduring has shaped me into the person I am today.

I like the person I am today. He's got his share of issues, but he's willing to work through them. He may not be the humblest man on the block (talking about himself in the third person... what a pompous, arrogant fool!), but he knows he's got failings, and he knows he's got failings he doesn't know about yet.

I'm thankful for the eternal sacrifice Jesus Christ made, so that even the failings I don't know about can be overcome. I know not everybody believes in Him the way I do, and I'm thankful that I live in a country where that's okay.

Here in this spot, on this page, I'm especially thankful for my readers... the ones who follow my comic meanderings daily, and the ones who only tune in every so often to find out who's dead; the ones who send me money, and the ones who don't; the ones who made it through that last paragraph about Jesus even though they weren't sure they liked the way it made them feel, and the ones who didn't even bother to read any of this. I know you're all out there, and I'm grateful that you've trusted me with a corner of your imaginations.

I'm thankful for a place to say all this. I've gotten a lot of email from readers thanking me for the comic over the last four-point-four years. Thank YOU, everybody. You make my day again, and again, and again.