By David Van Cleve

My wife Mary and I like to take our dog Zeke on a long walk every morning around our neighborhood. In addition to being good exercise, it is an opportunity to talk to friends and neighbors.

Today we ran into Jane, whose husband Bill was diagnosed with cancer several years ago and continues to go up and down vis-à-vis his health. She said that Bill entered clinical trials a couple of years ago that were very successful in treating his cancer, but that "his numbers" had gone up again. But his numbers were not up high enough to qualify for more trials yet.

Mary and I commented that that "Catch-22" was unfortunate, since Bill was sick, but not sick enough. Jane corrected us. She said that every day is a blessing. Bill is living a good life, and their lives are full of wonderful friends and family and lots of love.

We had just spent the weekend in Coronado at a "boutique" hotel. I think boutique means older, charming, and expensive. We kept shaking our heads in Coronado. We would walk the boardwalk in front of the Hotel Del, admire the mansions on Ocean Boulevard, and watch the yachts in the ocean and bay -- all the things that are out of reach financially.

Yet when we returned to Ramona, we were so relieved to be home. Sparse traffic, little noise except for the local birds, and our own comfortable bed.

Jane reminded us that counting blessings is not just something my Grandma told me to do. We are very blessed by, and thank God for every evening, our family, friends, church, health, and community. We can visit and enjoy Coronado, but are happy when we return to Ramona.

Jane, thank you for the reminder to be thankful for the lives God has provided. We all have problems and complaints, but we are truly blessed.