If we were each to make and compare a list of the Top Ten Things we are thankful for, our lists would probably look pretty much the same.  Would your list include family and friends and faith and job and country and home and health and dinner and music and life itself?  Mine, too.
But what if we were each to make a list of the Bottom Ten Things we are thankful for?  I bet our lists would not be very similar. 
As I sit here by the fire tonight, in the aftermath of September 11^th and the foremath of Thanksgiving Day, there is a tendency for me to move away from the gravity of it all for a moment, and to look at the little things at the bottom of the pile.  So I thought I'd try to write down the Bottom Ten things that I am thankful for.
1) I am thankful for short lines in a grocery store.  Although I like to seem patient and oblivious, it is very difficult to be at the end of a long line in a grocery store or anywhere else. 
2) I am thankful for flavored decaffeinated coffee.  In the middle of the afternoon, about 3 o'clock, when I'm looking for another edge, Hazelnut Creme without caffeine is a wonderful way to get something delicious with a lot of nothing.
3) I am thankful for dental tape because it is so much stronger than dental floss, and it doesn't tear into my fingernails when I'm doing business with it.
4) I am thankful for Apple Crisp Mix in a box.  Making apple crisp from scratch is not a giant task, but I've never been able to make it as good as my mother or Allan's mother.  The box thing is marvelous for us and close to Mom's.
5) I am thankful for oval shaped bar soap because it fits so much better in my oval shaped soap dish than does rectangu-lar bar soap.  Also, oval shaped bar soap fits just fine in my rectangular shaped soap dish.  Only thing is, oval shaped soap doesn't float.  (Try reading that paragraph out loud, really fast.)
6) I am thankful for sheets of address labels that come to us in the mail from all over the country, free of charge, unsolicit-ed, and in various designs.  The labels require no licking and they keep on stick-ing.
7) I am thankful for drive-thrus at banks and fast food restaurants.  It's hard to believe there was a time without them.  I like to drive-thru everything - drive-thru dry cleaners, drive-thru coffee shops, drive-thru delis, drive-thru ice cream stands, drive-thru carwashes.  Will we ever have drive-thru bathrooms?
8) I am thankful for pop holders in a car, especially since carmakers began installing dashes on a slant.  They might have guessed our coffee would spill when set on a slanted dash.  With the amount of time we have to spend in our vehicles today, compared to, say, tractors and hay wagons and helicopters, it's smart to safely accommodate time on the road with a can of pop ... and a cell phone ... and a bag of French fries ... and CD's to fit the mood.
9) I am thankful for fleece mittens, fleece scarves, fleece nighties, fleece robes, fleece slippers, fleece vests, fleece every-thing.  Who discovered fleece?  Does it come from sheep?  Llamas?  Fllamas?  It's so soft and washes so well.
10) I am thankful for sharp scissors. 
I must have a dozen scissors in the house - for cutting hair, cutting paper, cutting fabric, cutting wire, cutting hosta stems, cutting green onions and anything else that needs cutting.  I love to cut and paste.  Reminds me of my days as a first grader back in Ghent, Minnesota.
Since I've now listed for you my ten boring bottomless things I'm thankful for, and there's still space to fill on this page, I brought a piece of paper  to Allan with a simple request ... "Hey, Allan ... Would you write down ten dumb things that you're thankful for?  You know, not hearth and home and happiness and that sorta stuff.  The bottom things, not the top things.  Please?  Just write down ten things that you're thankful for that nobody else might say."
I didn't explain the reason for my request and he didn't ask.  Not unusual for my man of few words.  Dutiful, diligent, dashing husband, he jots down ten things in less than ten minutes, brings them to me -- I'm still sitting in front of the fireplace -- then he walks upstairs.  I read his stuff.  It's short.  It's concise.  It's so nice.   Maybe he misunderstood.  I'm sorta embarrassed.  Every item he's written pertains to me.  Allan is talking to me ... on paper ... while I'm talking to everybody else in the world ... on paper.  This darn Gazette has a way of getting in the way. 
Anyway, here's what Allan had on his list.
1) Thank you for picking up my socks.
2) Thank you for putting the garbage in the garbage.
3) Thank you for letting me watch football games on Sunday.
4) Thank you for not slobbering toothpaste on the faucet like I do.
5) Thank you for always being ready to cut my hair when I ask you.
6) Thank you for letting me go hunting and fishing.
7) Thank you for letting me have a bull shed.
8) Thank you for going on walks with me.
9) Thank you for going to the Victoria House with me.
10) Thank you for having a glass of wine with me.
I didn't know when I wrote the first paragraph here, what the rest of this piece might hold.  That, also, is not unusual.  It's the story of my life.  Maybe yours, too.  I don't plan very much for today or for tomorrow, yet everything seems to fall in place.  I love being a sparrow.
I'm thankful for every little twig in my nest and every little worm, every little ray of sunshine and every little drop of rain.  I'm thankful for the Bottom Ten Things and the Top Ten Things and all the stuff in between. 
   Love, Sue