How I've enjoyed my life

On my desk are pictures my youngest daughter drew. They were here a couple of nights ago, and brought me dinner at work. One picture is of "Harry the Monkey", an office drone with a "15 years service" badge on a Dilbert-style shirt whose computer says, "It is now safe to turn off your computer." I know enough to know that I am "Harry the Monkey." :-)

Another picture shows the sun shining on clouds dropping rain onto a small Earth. Yet another shows a hamburger being dissected into its constituent components (lettuce, ketchup, pickles, lettuce, tomato, a patty.) And another shows things my daughter fancies - card games, horses, a saddle, fashion accessories, books, water polo. How fascinating and wonderful a privilege it is to watch a person form as a small child and then slowly gel as the woman she is going to become.

My older daughter is in college and has a job. She has finally found that elusive thing that everyone puzzles on from primary to high school - what "I want to do when I grow up." And how flattering in some ways it is that what she wants to do is so close to what I did for a living, before it devolved into me being a computer programmer.

My wife bought my favourite fruits and croissants and put them in the fridge for me to take for lunch. How fortunate I am to be blessed with a partner who knows me so well, and whose selfless love is so abundantly given. And how blessed I am that my brother-in-law left me a song on my answering machine this morning.

My sister in law once said that a family's riches are not measured in dollars - they are measured in love. I am as wealthy as Bill Gates today, and I know I've done nothing to deserve it. Above all, I am eternally grateful to a God whose rain and sun fall on the just and unjust equally. Thank you for my life.