Time is precious

What am I thankful for?

For me, to be thankful is to be aware of what you have or where you can get to. It is not something to be smug about, but rather to be grateful for, and for me that gratefulness should be worn as the reflection of who you are.

I am thankful for the many people whom I have had the opportunity to meet and work with that have added to my education, spirit and sense of self. I am thankful for my wife and sons (Mira, Sharif, and Jelani), my parents, my siblings, Rocket (my dog), my health, my home, my friends.

I am thankful for my job and the opportunity in front of me. I am thankful for the spirit of collaboration that exists and is growing within our region. For 125 years, the Sacramento Metro Chamber has brought forward the concerns and solutions to help achieve regional prosperity.

While some of the problems have changed, the need to care about the community as whole has not. I am thankful to be part of a team and an organization that cares for and promotes not only a strong business environment that encourages entrepreneurship and existing companies, but also a skilled, educated workforce and a vibrant community.

And I am really thankful for time.

I am thankful for the time that I have been given to learn and recognize patterns. This recognition has helped to shape my positive outlook and desire to help those around me. This recognition has helped me to realize that anytime I thought God, the universe, was hurling me into some ditch, it was just that I needed more preparation for what was to come. I needed that trial in order to be truly grateful, appreciative and totally prepared for the benefit that I was about to receive.

Where that brings me to now is that for me to be expressive of this thankfulness, this gratefulness, I must share with others. I must let others around me know—that as they struggle with a difficult situation, that as they try to act as the master of their fate and captain of their soul—that there is another on the other end, who can hopefully share lessons to give them the time they need to properly navigate their path.