Rupp: Remember Your Blessings This Thanksgiving

With Turkey Day around the corner, it's time to reflect on all the gifts we have been bestowed with. It is easy to get distracted in the chaos of everyday life, and we sometimes focus more on our struggles rather than on our successes.  I want to encourage you to think about what you are grateful for this year.  Please allow me to share what I am thankful for:

• I am thankful that my daughter thinks I am the best daddy in the world, and I pray I live up to her hopes.
• I am thankful that my son is full of imagination and wonderment, and that he tells me he loves me every day.
• I am thankful that I get to represent 165,000 amazing people in the Missouri Senate for four more years.
• I am thankful that my parents were loving, caring, and supportive people that instilled strong values and ideals in me as a young man.
• I am thankful that we live in the best, most free country with unlimited opportunities in the whole world.
• I am thankful that I get to spend every day with my best friend.
• I am thankful for the thousands of men and women that go to work each day far from home to defend our country from its enemies.

This Thanksgiving, remember all your blessings and share them with those around you.  Tell your family and friends that you love them and give thanks for the food upon your table.  Keep our military men and women and their families in your thoughts and prayers, as some of them may be spending Thanksgiving apart this year, and remember to have a thankful attitude not just during the holidays, but all year-round.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all and God Bless.