I am grateful for the willingness of both Jurgen Klinsmann and Everton manager Roberto Martinez to afford me the opportunity to spend time with my kids.
I was 32 when I signed for Everton, and Roberto Martinez said, 'With your style of game, you can play until you're 40.' I'm sitting there laughing at him, but he was deadly serious. I still laughed.
When I broke into the Everton side under Roberto Martinez, I was playing in the No. 10 role, and I had never played there before, so I was getting used to that role as a first-team player.
From my youth team all the way through, I was encouraged to play that way by Keith Hill when I was at Barnsley, and then Roberto Martinez at Everton, through to Gareth Southgate when he was in charge of the England Under-21s.
In July 2011, U.S. Soccer announced that they'd fired Bob Bradley and hired Jurgen Klinsmann as head coach. Jurgen had once been a world-class German striker; now he was regarded as a successful, if controversial, coach.
To be honest, my time at Dortmund wasn't a big success. I didn't settle well at the club and eventually moved on to Sevilla. But I am forever grateful about it because it gave me the opportunity to work with Jurgen Klopp. If I didn't go to Germany, I would never have had a chance to work with him.
From the start, the promise of Jurgen Klinsmann as manager of the U.S. men's national team was revolution: gritty, plodding American soccer would give way to attacking flair; the parade of journeymen would end; an era of skilled stylists would begin.
Roberto Martinez's belief is unbelievable
Every time I score the passion comes out and I try to relay that back to the fans and to the players and the staff how grateful I am to be playing for such a good football club. The fans have taken well to me. I am part of the furniture at Everton, but I don't take it for granted.
Away from football, it is just family. I try to spend time with my kids - I have to spend a lot of time away, so every time I am at home, I like to spend time with them.
I am grateful to be here, and I will always be grateful for the opportunity Manchester City gave me.
I am thankful for everyone at the club that helped me, the fans, the coaches that I have had, the staff that have helped with injuries, I am really grateful to everyone at Everton. It was like a family to me.
I am grateful for who I am and who I am not. I am grateful for the life I have been given and for all that I have and all that I don't. Every breath I take is a blessing and an opportunity to fully experience the sheer joy of being alive.
He means as much as Roberto Clemente does to Latin people. Thank God I had the opportunity to know him. I wish my kids had the opportunity to be around him, because that's how I want my kids to live their lives. I want them to be like Stan Musial. Not the baseball player. The person. That's the respect I have for that man.
If Jurgen Klinsmann thinks that the best way for his team to be successful is if his young players go to Europe, there is nobody in the world who can argue with that. That is his opinion, whether you agree with it or not.
Nobody at Liverpool questions the manager. Jurgen Klopp is a top, top manager.
I've always acknowledged my debt to Hammer. I've always said I'm very grateful to them. They gave me this great opportunity, made me a well-known face all over the world for which I am profoundly grateful.