THANKSGIVING THOUGHTS

I'm sitting in a hotel room outside of Chicago - another in what has become a fairly long list of hotel rooms for Mrs Clark's favorite son this l-o-n-g year of 2009 - and I'm thinking of all the reasons that I have to be thankful here on this most thankful of all days. Prominently near the very top of that list would be this Team - you guys - and the simple fact that somehow the JDRF Ride to Cure Program and I stumbled onto each other 5 years ago.

Being a part of this remains one of the highlights of my life - you all mean so much to me that I'm having a hard time finding the words. (How come hotel rooms aren't stocked w/ a thesaurus?) Being a member of this Team means the world to me and JDRF's stuck w/ me 'til someone fires me!

Just wanna thank each and every one of you for what you mean to JDRF, our friends and family dealing w/ diabetes and....well......to me.

It's been a tough week in many respects and for many of our friends and team mates a pretty damn tough year. Many of those close to us won't be sad to see the end of 2009 for a variety of reasons and I just want to ask you all to be there for each other as we wrap up this year and roll into the next one.

So - shake off that turkey coma - be safe tomorrow (hopefully by steering clear of the crazies @ the mall) and let's get started on making 2010 the Best. Year. Ever.

Thanks again, (and again and again and and again!) for being who you are and doing what you do.

Yours, Mike