I'm thankful for family, friends, and for being able to build things for a living!

Thankful for a roof over my head where I can turn spruce and redwood into shavings and dust. The smell (after I take my respirator off, of course) of a big pile of cedar sawdust and freshly sawn strips. The lapping of chop against my cozy little hull. The honk of Canada geese overhead, sharing their lake with me.

The smell of burning turkey. Oops! Too busy with computers and kayaks! Just kidding

I'm thankful for the life of my friend Kevin who lost to cancer yesterday. It's tragic when one dies before their time, but we have to remember to be thankful for the life we have, and to live for today.

I'm thankful for long trips with good friends, and challenging days in tidal rapids or big, big waves and swells. I'm just as thankful for 5-mile days on meandering rivers, or an afternoon with pond water up my nose, practicing a roll. I'm thankful that I was given the desire, and shown the skills by strangers who have come before me, to build a craft that would take me safely from and back to shore. I thank the Creator for giving me an awestruck feeling, rather than an arrogant feeling when I'm building and paddling kayaks.

I'm thankful for all of you, my friends, and for being able to put faces behind the names of more and more people on this BBS--new friends who are instantly life-long friends.

Shawn