Hope for your financial life and beyond

When It’s a Challenge to Say I Am Thankful for You

Have you ever reflected on people who meant a great deal to you a long time ago? Sometimes these people fade from our memories as time passes. We may have lost track of them and forgot how much they impacted our lives. It would be great to reconnect with them and say I am thankful for you once again.

One such person in my life was a youth pastor. Not only did he become a mentor through my middle and high school years, but became someone I considered a friend (as much as a teen can have an adult i am thankful for youfriend). I don’t know where I would have ended if not for his guidance and counsel.

I did move away and distance kept us from interacting much into my adult life. But we did reconnect a few years ago and had a wonderful conversation about our past and current lives. So before I left our time together, I said to him how I am thankful for you being in my life.

That reconnection reminded me that I don’t say I am thankful for you often enough to those I see everyday. There are so many people who support me, encourage me and flat out love me no matter what. Life would be a challenge and quite frankly no fun without them. Family, friends, work associates – they lift my spirit on a daily basis. I am thankful for them being in my life.

But there is more to this thankfulness business than we think. Are we only to be thankful for those people who are close to us or that we would consider good?

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Thank You, For One Million Page Views at Luke1428.com

Rarely do I draw attention to the metrics of this blog. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever done it like this (and probably never will again). But I have fun moment that I couldn’t shy away from. Yesterday, some unknown user found their way to my site and triggered the one millionth page view at Luke1428.com. Thank you, mystery reader – I wish I had a prize for you.

Look, I know. In the grand scheme of the web, one million-page views isn’t a lot. Some personal finance sites get that in weeks. Still, it’s a big deal for me, especially when I consider my intentions for this blog.

This site has never been about making me money. I’ve never tried to make it my living as some other personal finance bloggers have successfully done. I basically generate enough revenue here to keep the site running and have a little left over for fun projects.

For the most part, I work on posts and site maintenance in my spare time. Early mornings, at night or on Sunday afternoon while watching football. It’s a part-time deal for me. And at this point, I’m doing two to three posts a month.

Despite my approach, the blog continues to grow beyond what I could have imagined when I first started. In fact, at current pace of growth, I should reach my 2-million-page view mark in the next two years. From there, who knows what happens.

So, if it’s not for a living, why devote effort to a blog in the first place? I’m glad you asked.

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What Should I Do For My Birthday Today?

Birthdays come but once a year. Today just so happens to be mine. And with it comes the obligatory question, What should I do for my birthday?

Some birthdays seem bigger than others. When I was a child, my birthday ranked right behind Christmas as the most important day of the year. I’d look forward to March 7th each and every year because it meant parties and cake and presents. I mean, what child doesn’t like to have those things on Christmas or their birthday or on any given day of the year?

what should i do for my birthdayNow, at 43, there is not so much gifting. There are fewer parties. Sometimes there is cake or perhaps a night out – if a babysitter can be found. More than likely though, the kids just come along on said night out.

The decade birthdays draw a bit more attention like when I turned 40. But for the most part I’m finding birthdays in middle age pass quietly without much fanfare.

And I’m OK with that.

A few months ago I spent some time with my grandfather, just a few weeks before his 102nd birthday. As we sat down to dinner one night, the conversation turned to a discussion about things that had occurred during the last year that we were thankful for. I’ll never forget his response when it came time for him to answer.

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