I'm thankful for my dog Olive and all nine pounds of her alpha qualities; as much as she drives me nuts with her protective barking at every sound as she sits near me while I work. I'm thankful for credit unions waking up to the plusses and minuses of fintech instead of blindly following along, and asking the important questions like, “Is this really what we want to become?” and “Will this help us grow our younger generations of members?” I'm thankful for stupid mistakes and the lessons we should learn from them; for instance, the four credit union employees in Idaho who dressed in blackface as the Jamaican bobsled team for Halloween. It was unbelievably stupid, and hopefully it will be a lesson that should have been learned decades ago: That there is no right in their actions – it's all wrong.

I'm thankful for all of my iPhone chargers and the fact that I keep at least two with me at all times. More so, I'm thankful that airlines have figured out that we freakin' need places at the gates to charge up before we get on a long flight on a plane without USB ports. I'm thankful that we are doing a tiny bit better with diversity in the credit union workplace – it's not great, but it's a little better and our team does notice these things when we receive all of the announcements from credit unions when they hire or promote executive leaders. I'm thankful that I don't need half-and-half in my coffee. I'm thankful that eventually everyone gets caught, no matter how elaborate the scheme is, to steal money from credit unions. Peter Strozniak and I discuss this a lot and the discussions always end with, “Well, it might take years, but everyone gets caught.”

I'm thankful for Gary Larson and old The Far Side comics. I'm thankful for the mute button on my phone. I'm thankful for really good bean dip with corn. I'm thankful for well-thought-out infographics. I'm thankful for friendly credit union employees and when they give me candy. I'm thankful for the FFIEC for not updating the social media guidelines for credit unions – take your time, people. I'm thankful for space heaters. I'm thankful that there's no clear answer if expanding or contracting the number of credit union branches is a good thing; the debate continues. I'm thankful for grocery stores that have the security camera TV monitor overhead as you walk in so you can see how tired you look on Saturdays. I'm thankful for credit union leagues and what they do for their regions, and I hope they see that they're doing the best they can with the uncertain economic future. Speaking of credit union leagues, I'm thankful for people like Janine McBee and Tina Ramos-Ingold – two people who've been involved in credit unions for a long time and have remained just the nicest people. I'm thankful for the smell of bacon – I don't eat meat, but I do enjoy the smell. I'm thankful for credit union branches in high schools. I'm thankful that someone thought that this was a good idea, because it really is!