Get a sec? Give me some quick feedback on this post.

I’ve used Thanksgiving as a reason to write about a lot of different things over the years. Some only loosely related to resort marketing.

Today is one of those days. Today I want to tell a story.

A few weeks ago I was sitting at my desk, toes close to the heat register, working quietly on some updates to the Inntopia website. The weather outside was that classic November drizzle where it somehow seems colder at 39 degrees than it will at 15 degrees in January.

Somewhere along this stretch of work I hit a mental snag so I leaned back in my chair and watched sheets of rain blow through the valley. I’d only been taking in this scene for a few seconds when I saw them; three men, perched on the roof of a new home, soaked to the bone, fighting the wind to nail down underlayment. They looked miserable doing a job that, by a quick Google search, pays only a fraction of what I earn with my cozy toes and comfortable chair.

Instead of counting my lucky stars and turning back to work, I sat with this feeling for a few minutes.

Because the honest truth is that I don’t know why they were out there and I wasn’t. I’ve worked hard, to be sure, but no harder than them. And certainly not hard enough to account for the gap between us. I didn’t know whether to feel lucky, guilty, or both.

I still don’t.

That uncertainty is probably a good way to describe the flavor of gratitude I feel as we approach another Thanksgiving. As I’ve gotten older I’ve become more and more aware of how smooth my life has gone. Maybe because of that awareness, I also feel more deeply the bumps in others’ roads that haven’t been in mine.

I’ve had friends lose a child.

I’ve had friends lose jobs. And then lose another. And another

I’ve had friends struggle with debilitating health issues.

I’ve had friends struggle paycheck to paycheck.

I’ve had friends whose marriages have fallen apart.

I’ve had friends whose businesses have failed.

I’ve had friends who have been way more thoughtful and intentional than I have about their life yet have nothing but back luck to show for it.

Like watching those roofers in the rain, I look at all of the things I haven’t had to deal with in my life and feel that same tension. I’ve worked hard to avoid some pitfalls, but no harder than them and certainly not hard enough to account for some of these gaps between us.

Should I feel guilty? Lucky? Or both.

I still don’t know the answer, but today I’m grateful for both sides of that coin.

I’m grateful for the luck that has helped me find a comfortable, happy life but I’m also grateful for the uncomfortable feeling that reminds me to do something about it. The feeling that tells me to spend more time away from my warm cozy life and more time with those out in the wind and rain.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.