Oregon Public Broadcasting aired a story Monday about a poet who wants to write a poem of thanksgiving based on what listeners tell him. While I don’t plan to contribute, his idea certainly got me thinking about the people and things I’m thankful about. And with Thanksgiving a week away, I decided to share.

I have a wonderful family, for whom I’ll always be thankful. I’m the eldest of six, now five living, siblings, and while we had the usual kid squabbles when we were young, I cannot express how much each of them means to me. We stand by each other, even if we don’t always agree about choices someone has made, and we help where and when we can. We laugh and cry together and understand each other as few outside any family can.

Years ago we decided to have at least one party a year for the entire bunch, including children and grandchildren, and while it changes over time and not everyone can always make it, it remains a family favorite today. In fact, my eldest and several of her cousins are planning for this year’s party, a move that effectively passes the baton to the next generation. As for the children, mine are, of course, absolutely perfect in every way. Or not. I love them just as much either way.

This may sound strange, but I’m also thankful for growing older — and not for the obvious reason that it’s better than the alternative.

No, there’s a mellowing that has come with age that allows me to see the gray in the world I used to miss. Life is more comfortable here where it’s so much easier than it used to be to see the other side of an argument. The world runs best, I think, when it runs from the middle, when, in politics, neither conservatives nor liberals always carry the day, or in life, where very few of us are either absolutely right or absolutely wrong. I’ve become a fan of compromise in ways I never was before and discovered I can do so without giving up core principles.

And I’m thankful that I live in Bend, changes and all. I recognize that like it or not, much of what makes Bend the community it is today is the direct result of the tourists who have come before and continue to do so. Here’s a short list of things we can “blame” tourists for:

A flock of good, even great, physicians in nearly all areas of practice. Gone are the days when tiny premature babies had to fly to Portland or when heart bypass patients had to go there because no one performed the surgery in Bend.

Good restaurants and shopping. In the early 1960s there were only two “good” restaurants in Bend, the Pine Tavern and the long-gone Copper Room. Bend’s beer boom is part of the shift in food choices brought about by tourists who moved here after visiting.

Paved streets. Believe it or not, Bend had more unpaved streets than paved ones for much of my childhood. As subdivisions blossomed, filled with people who came to visit and decided to stay, so, too did paved streets, a plethora of parks and real sidewalks.

Jobs. For much of the 20th century the community’s kids had to go elsewhere to work if they wanted to be a doctor, lawyer, inventor, stockbroker or other professional. That’s no longer true.

OSU-Cascades. Without the tourists who came to visit and stayed, Oregon State may never have opened its branch campus, and what a loss that would be.

As for traffic, that’s a cyclical thing, and after a period of being behind, we’ll no doubt catch up again.

Bend remains a beautiful community, filled with people who give more than they take. People who support the arts, who mentor children, feed the homeless and commit a thousand other acts of kindness, large and small, make Bend, and, indeed, all of Central Oregon, the place it is today. I’m thankful for all of them.

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving, and I hope each of you enjoys it as much as I do, surrounded by family and friends and genuinely thankful for the things that make your life special.

— Janet Stevens is deputy editor of The Bulletin. Contact: 541-617-7821, jstevens@bendbulletin.com