I hadn’t put this at the top of my list of things to be thankful for, but this article in the Charleston Daily Mail caused me to think about some of the things I take for granted.  We forget the difficult transition from the Clinton adminstration to the Bush adminstration.  We couldn’t afford that difficult transition then (there will always be the possibility that 9/11 could have been avoided had we not had all the political backbiting that was going on), and we certainly can’t afford it now.  Yet, if you are paying attention, you can’t help but notice that George Bush has been a total gentleman about the transition of power to Barack Obama.  He is modeling what transition should look like in a healthy democracy–regardless (or in spite of) political differences.  We take it for granted that we have gone seven years without an attack on our country.  Remember the fear after 9/11 of not knowing when the next attack would come.  We have forgotten that.  Anyway, the article reminded me of some of things I have learned to appreciate (and often take for granted) about George Bush.