I asked Michael, and he suggested we each pick two things we were grateful for and then that would leave us one thing to share.

“Good idea,” I said. “So, what about you? What are you thankful for today?”

“Well,” he said, “you remember a couple days ago I said I wish everything wasn’t so digital?”

“Of course.”

“Well, I’m grateful for technology.”

We both laughed.

“What about you?” he asked.

“Laughing with you over these topics. And I get what you mean. A pandemic without technology to keep us together would be worse than a pandemic. It’s human to need other people.”

“Exactly. I’m also grateful for basic things like food, water, and a bed. It really bugs me that there are people in this world, in this century, after all our inventions and ways of making things happen, there are millions of people who don’t have clean water or who don’t know when their next meal might be.”

We both took a moment to think about what he’d just said.

After a minute or so, he said, “So, what’s something else you’re grateful for?”

“My website visitors and the people who read my stories. And you know what? Soon, that’ll be something we’re both grateful for. People who read our children’s book.”

He smiled.

“The question’s about today though right?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“Hmmm,” he said. “What are we both grateful for today?”

“Friends, family, and each other.”

“The first two, yes. The third one, most of the time.”