This is what I love most about tennis: The game starts over with every serve. 

It has to do with the way the game is structured, from the unusual score-keeping Deuce (clean slate) to a new set (clean slate) to the tie-break (clean slate). Every point offers a shot at redemption.

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How blessed we are that life is like a game of tennis is the conclusion I came to this morning as I lay in bed looking toward the french doors, the ones that offer such pretty views of Bickley’s Pond. It is Thanksgiving, and I was thinking about my life, all its colors and textures, all I have to be grateful for. That’s when the question came to me, the one I pondered a good long time.

But what am I most thankful for?

I watched through the doors as the flat gray sky burst into the brilliant orange that marks a November sunrise.

I am thankful every day offers the chance to begin again.

To make good on promises, to get things done, to go in a different direction. To learn something new, to plan for tomorrow, to live in the moment. To be a better friend, sister, mother, daughter, wife. To forgive more freely. To love more fully. To look beyond, to look within, to go deep. To laugh out loud. To be still. To pray with conviction. To believe. To hold close. To let go. To give away. To receive, wide open and with joy. To be whole-hearted. To be contented. To stretch. To remember. To celebrate.

To give it another try.

To be thankful. To be truly, humbly thankful.

I wish you rich blessings, my friend, this Thanksgiving day, and always.