I learned recently from a credible source that bloggers need to bow to Google Trends.

Whatever the hot topics of the day and week are MUST appear somewhere in my posts. Headline or body copy. Gotta attract the spiders. A spider is a software program that travels the web locating and indexing websites for search engines.

Hence the headline addressing being thankful, my wife, and (spider alert) Black Friday. Today is American Thanksgiving. Today is Thursday in Canada. Tomorrow is Black Friday in the lower 50. Tomorrow is Black Friday in Kelowna. What an odd juxtaposition?! How did that happen?!

Let’s dig into the main dish. What am I “Most Thankful For” on November 27, 2014?

That’s easy – my beautiful and truly special wife, Elaine. What a difference the past four months have made in my life. I was able to join Elaine here in Kelowna in mid-July and we got hitched nine days later. We recited our vows in the sun and sand because we reunited a few years ago in the sun and sand. It’s been a whirlwind of passion and compassion ever since.

Perhaps most significantly – Elaine has taken a block of stubborn granite and slowly chiseled me into a much better person. She has calmed me down and given me renewed purpose in life. She has become my best friend and lover. She has loved me like never before. Powerful stuff for a (long ago) skinny kid from Pittsburgh (BTW – I’m also blessedly thankful for my Mother, Sister, extended family, and friends).

This ain’t no Ryan Gosling (spider alert) movie! All experiences are unscripted. Every day there’s a new insight or simple gesture that makes me think about how lucky I am to have Elaine in my life. She writes love notes and gives me strength when I worry about being in employment limbo. She’s taught me not to walk away from conflict but rather face it and make it right. All this because I married a kind and caring woman who sees past my rough edges and wants to grow old together. Lucky me.

People like stats. Check these beauties out. It was Elaine’s idea:

• For me to enter Canada at the Paterson Border Crossing
• To get married at Bertram Creek Park
• To honeymoon at the ridiculously gorgeous Predator Ridge Resort
• To take my last name
• To handle all the organizational aspects of my Immigration paperwork
• To NOT have me officiate any basketball or volleyball this season because the price of getting caught was way too steep and destructive
• To teach me that mountain hiking is killer cardio
• To take me to Calgary and Airdrie to fulfill my grandpa role with baby Dreia
• To upgrade my computer software packages
• For me to start this blog
• To determine the best shoe-bin locations at the UBC Faculty of Medicine Southern Medical Program and Kelowna General Hospital for my Kelowna Shoe Bank Christmas promotion
• For us to attend a recent Visiting Speaker Series lecture about Social Media and me to ask the keynote speaker “how does a guy like me market his blog?”
• To take today off work so we could celebrate our first American Thanksgiving together (after celebrating our first Canadian Thanksgiving five weeks ago)

That’s the number-one girl I fell in love with. That’s the girl that accepts and welcomes my love. That’s the girl whom I love very much with all my heart and wanna spend the rest of my life with. Guess I better start my Christmas shopping early, eh?!

Time for me to baste our bird and get it oven-ready. Got stuffing, candied yams, and green-bean casserole on the menu. Dessert is a double bill – pumpkin pie and a pistachio/vanilla ice cream concoction that melts in your mouth like green-and-white gold.

For one afternoon, I’m a (spider alert) Master Chef.