Every year, we look forward to the Thanksgiving holiday for the time off, the food and, sometimes, the chance to see family members we don't get to see too often.

But seldom do we give thought to what we are thankful for.

The truth is, we probably take so much for granted that we don't even realize we should be thankful.

And, so, in an effort to be of great service to you, dear reader, I offer a few thoughts on things you might want to be thankful for this holiday season.

Water: With more than 7 billion people now populating this Big Blue Marble, this finite resource is strained now more than ever to meet our needs.

We don't live in the far western U.S. where water management is so tough they reroute rivers to provide for the needs of big cities at the expense of ranchers.

And we don't live in southeastern Australia where a long-running drought has led to major lifestyle changes for millions.

But let us go a day with the water cut off around the house, like we did Tuesday at home while work crews were rehabbing a water line, and it seems like the end is near.

So, I'm thankful for my clean, consistent supply of water.

A job: Sadly, too many of my friends and family members - and probably yours, too - are without that steady income that helps us get from month to month, or plan for life's bigger expenses.

During the past several years, life has changed even for those who have jobs as they seek to pick up their productivity level in the wake of their colleagues' job losses.

Still, the extra work for many means overtime and even some additional pay while, for others, the extra work can almost be like an extra job security blanket.

For some time now, we've heard pundits who argue that next year should signal the start of an economic turnaround.

But "next year" comes and goes and, the turnaround, like a mirage in the desert, is still off in the distance.

I suspect no one really knows when the economy will turn around, or even if we seen the worst of it.

Hopefully, we have.

In the meantime, I'm thankful for what I have.

Lessons learned: No matter how old you are, it's never too late to learn something.

The older we get, the more we think we know it all.

But I know I do not know it all in so many ways.

Whether it be professionally or personally, there are so many opportunities to learn.

And during the past 12 months, I've learned lessons on both fronts and, undoubtedly, many other areas. I try to keep those lessons top of mind, though that's sometimes a challenge.

Sometimes our lessons are learned the hard way.

My teenager is without her permit this month for a tardy infraction and it's just about to kill her.

My hope is that's a lesson learned.

Other times, the lessons we learn are a bit more subtle.

Those tend to come, of all places, from children who, remarkably, spit out some of the sagest remarks you're likely to hear.

And, when they do, it's like being hit over the head with a sledgehammer.

However they come, I'm always thankful for lessons learned.