It has been another good month, filled with tacos, Fall Creek Falls, football, karate and Thanksgiving feasts.

Good stuff.

Thanksgiving really is one of my favorite times of the year, though I try to remain grateful all year long.

I am grateful to be in business. I am grateful to be in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, U.S.A. I am grateful that Sarah and I can support our family with this local and independent business, doing something for ourselves. I am grateful that I do not have to work for some corporation that I care nothing about, that tells me what to do, where to be, when to be there and what vaccine to take.

I am grateful for our wonderful roster of advertisers and grateful that I get to do something meaningful to the community.

It is a peculiar time in the economy in regard to employment and pricing within the food service industry.

Restaurants—and other businesses of various types—are seeing costs go up, workers expecting more money, somewhat of a shortage of workers, having to limit their hours and in many cases raising prices.

One local restaurant owner recently said that he has never had as much trouble staffing his business in the past three decades as he has in late 2021. Further, he has little hope the situation will improve much anytime soon.

Another area restaurant owner who is attempting to hire staff says he sees many individuals fill out applications in order to satisfy unemployment requirements, and then not even show up for an interview or show much interest in reporting for the job.

Multiple restaurants are saying they have demand from customers, but simply do not have the human resources to service that demand.

Businesses and consumers hope that prices do not spiral out of control.

Keep on working hard and doing what you do.

It is hard to believe the Home Alone franchise now has six films in its arsenal. Disney is obviously open to far-fetched ideas, so the newest title has me already planning a seventh—Home Sweet Home Alabama Alone, in which the opulent lifestyle of the typical Home Alone families is switched for a burglarized mobile home in a trailer park down South.

Anyway, may you have someone to play chess with, someone to spar with, someone to spend your life with, to walk with, to cook with, to do all of the things you want to do with another.

If your teammate goes down (from a foot injury or otherwise), keep on pushing! Play for pride. Be ready to step up and fill the void.

Seize the opportunity and propel your team to its highest possible level of success in honor of those who can no longer play the game.