It was only a year ago that my family sat around my parents dining room table talking about my father who passed away a little more than a month prior. At that time we collectively couldn’t think of much to be thankful for, but it is amazing how much clarity a year can bring.
I am looking forward to this year’s Thanksgiving family get together to discuss how much I learned from my father while he was here that I didn’t know he taught me. It wasn’t until the first time I tried to pick up the phone to ask him, and realized that he wasn’t here that I understood that he had already shown me.
I am thankful for the 47 years of non-verbal, and sometime very verbal, education he gave to me and my siblings. From Morals, ethics, integrity, honesty, hard work, and friendship, these are the things that he taught us all, not so much in what he said, but in how he acted, what he did, who he was, and who he wasn’t.
I am thankful for the 23 years that we got to spend working together in the business that he built that has become his legacy, which he handed to me the day he died.
I am thankful for the opportunity to show to others that I learned the lessons he taught me in my lifetime as I learn to walk in his shoes.
Make sure as you sit around the Thanksgiving table this year that you let those you care about know how thankful you are to have the chance to let them know how thankful you truly are.
Happy Thanksgiving!
