I'm the type who needs Thanksgiving
Jeremy Heath

Jeremy Heath is the Dispatch Record's sports editor. His column appears each Friday. He can be contacted via e-mail at jheath@lampasas.com.

I hear it all the time.

"You've got to live in the moment." Or: "Life's too short. Quit worrying about tomorrow, and appreciate what you have today."

Yeah, right. And while I'm at it, maybe I ought to quit my job, clear out my savings and my portfolio, throw a change of clothes into a backpack, jump on a plane and wander the European countryside in search of my inner what-haveyou.

Look, it's not that I don't understand the message implied in those pieces of advice. I do. And to some degree, I appreciate that message. But I also firmly believe the day I stop worrying about how I'm going to make my family's tomorrow better than today is the day I stop growing as a person.

But that's just me. I worry about things because I don't want to burden others with my needs.

Besides, if I take the time to gawk at every sunset, how long before I lose the ability to recognize the truly glorious ones? And if I start sitting around all the time telling myself how wonderful my life is and how wonderful the world is, I might as well stop celebrating Thanksgiving Day. It just wouldn't have the same impact.

Dustin Hobbs: Signed to play baseball at Kansas State.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It's perfect for people like me: people who get so caught up in their responsibilities, they need a reminder that it's important to occasionally take a step back and identify the blessings in their lives.

This Thanksgiving Day is the most emotional of the 31 I've seen. I've never had so many reasons to thank God.

· I have a five-month-old son named Landry.

· He's healthy. · He has a wonderful mother.

· She's healthy.

· Landry smiles and giggles more than he cries.

· When he does cry, his mother takes him in her arms and sings to him -- a sight more glorious than any sunset.

· I'm healthy -- a bit heavier than I'd like but healthy nonetheless.

· I have a satisfying job. · I have a strong home. · I have two good dogs. · The Cowboys are 9-1. · I don't have to work today.

Kenny Murray: Youth coach will receive national honor.

· Or tomorrow.

· If I did, I wouldn't mind too much because I work with good people.

· I get to watch the Texas-Texas A&M football game with my dad this year (I can't even remember the last time that happened.).

· I get to eat my mom's leftover stuffing during the game (Her stuffing is even better the day after Thanksgiving.).

· My little Honda might be banged up, but it runs like a Kenyan.

· It's paid for!

· I have a church family.

· That church family cares about my family.

· My family cares about me.

I hope and pray everyone who reads this has as many or more blessings in their life. I also hope they remember where those blessings came from.

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I know of one Lampasas family with something special for which to be thankful.

If Ralph and Betty Lucas weren't already Kansas State fans, they are now.

Their grandson, Dustin Hobbs of Las Vegas, Nev., signed a national letter of intent to play baseball for the Wildcats.

Dustin, who grew up primarily in Taylor, played his prep ball for Arbor View High School in Las Vegas.

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Youth football players in Lampasas also have a reason to give thanks.

Many of them should be thankful they get to learn the basics of the game from Kenny Murray. Murray, who I know from the great radio color commentary work he does during Badgers football games, was one of just 10 coaches selected from a national pool of thousands to receive the 2007 NFLYouth Football Fund Champions Award.

Murray was nominated by the Boys and Girls Club of Lampasas, and will be honored at the Youth Action Conference in Glendale, Ariz., March 4-7, 2008.

Congratulations, Kenny. Happy Thanksgiving, Lampasas.