By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

The other day, I saw one of the basketball players I coach in the hallway of the school during the regular school-day hours.

Since they typically see me in the gymnasium during practice time, they were surprised I was there and asked, “Hey, what are you doing here?”

The question was clearly designed for me to provide an explanation for why I was at school before practice time.

I jokingly responded with a pair of questions back at them.

“What am I doing here at the school right now? Or what am I doing here on Earth?”

The player laughed, then we continued with our conversation.

But, honestly, what am I doing here?

Obviously, it is a deeper question than most are probably prepared to think about on Thanksgiving.

Or any day for that matter.

If you give the question some thought, though, you may find a unique snapshot of what your life is right now. Undoubtedly, you will also find reasons to be thankful.

I can tell you that I am thankful for everything I have and everyone in my life, most especially my family, but also including all of you who continue to visit Portage Sports to read, share and appreciate the content.

I can tell you that I work with determination so that Portage Sports can fulfill its intended mission to make a daily impact on communities.

I am thankful that my life has intersected at the same time as all of yours.

I recently saw a graphic that indicated that for me to be here today (or you), it required the lives of 512 family members — based on a 10th generation family. The number jumps exponentially with bad additional generation, with a 21-generation family including a family tree of more than 1 million people.

I am not sure how many generations are on my family tree, but I do know that it took a lot of amazing people to survive some amazing things to live amazing lives for me to have the opportunities I get to enjoy every day.

It is a complex way to be thankful on Thanksgiving, but it also puts a lot of things into perspective.

The life I am living now will someday impact the life of a family member I will never meet.

I hope they are as thankful as I am.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family — and thank you for being here with me.