We always have plenty to worry about, and this year, with the talk of possible economic disaster, it might feel harder than ever to give thanks. There has never been a time without its share of troubles, and yet there has never been a time when thanksgiving wasn't in order.
What do I have to be thankful for? So many things--and I wish that my final prayer at night was a litany of thanksgiving.
Here are some things I am grateful for:
--My Mom and Dad, gone 5 years and 11 years now. They gave me life, raised me with love and care. Nurtured and protected me, brought me into a big and wonderful and crazy family.
--My family. My wife Linda, and her wonderful spirit; my daughters Julia, Carolan, and Emily, the apples of my eye; my brothers Denny, Kevin, and Jimmy, and my sister Mary Ellen; and all the wonderful in-laws, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, and shirt-tail relatives.
--My own health and energy, and the health of my family and friends.
--I am thankful for my intellect and the great gift of curiosity. Thankful for my facility with language and with music.
--For my home--strangely enough I never expected to have such a home, never expected much in terms of property or wealth.
--For all the odd groups of friends I've had over the years: classmates from St. William's and St. Joe's; neighborhood friends; baseball teammates; friends from all the crazy places I've worked; friends from the University of Notre Dame; friends from Innsbruck, Austria; friends from Lakeland Community College, where I have worked these past 20 years; friends from my Irish-Gaelic study group in Euclid. Thank You, Lord, for friends.
--And I am thankful for many friends and family members who have passed on. Besides Mom and Dad, I especially think of my Gramma Coughlin, Grampa Coughlin, Ruth and Art Sanders, Grandma Hoffman, Aunt Julia Brock, Uncles Dick, Don, and Skip Fitzpatrick, Aunt Mary Fitzpatrick, and so many more. I think of my friends Kenny Przybylski, Maurice McCrackin, Ernest and Marion Bromley, Chuck Matthei, Jack Shereda, and many more.
--And I am thankful for my teachers, living and dead. From St. Williams, Sr. Ruth Marie OSU, Sr. Muriel OSU, Sr. John Leonard OSU (now known as Sr. Alice Brickman), Mrs. Dempsey; from St. Joe's, Richard Pilder SM, Larry Grey SM, Fr. George Reich SM, Mr. Jerry Lennon, Coach Jim McDonough, and so many more. From the University of Notre Dame and St. Mary's College, Prof. Richard Sullivan, Sr. Franzita Kane CSC, Fr. Lawrence Broestl CSC, and so many more.
Thank You, Lord. Let me be true to these wonderful, gracious gifts!
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