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Tuesday, November 9, 2010

25 Days of Thanksgiving-Day 9

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I am thankful for my dad. He provided a good home for me during my formative years.

He also instilled in me the importance of an active church life – what today we call “being the church, not just going to church.” He wasn’t perfect. But he lives the “forgiven” life and taught me to live the same.

My dad loved to travel, which is where I get my love of travel from. The one trip that stands out above all others is the trip he and I took to Italy. We stayed in Cortina and skied where the 1956 Winter Olympics were staged. We also took a day-trip to Venice that I will never forget.

But it wasn’t all travel and church growing up. There were the wonderful Fourth of July parties, Memorial Day parties, New Year’s Eve, Christmas and Easter celebrations. The dinners with my grandparents, aunts & uncles, and cousins. The ball games at Comiskey Park and listening to E.G. Marshal host old-time radio shows while driving home.

Now that I am a dad to three boys of my own, we have spent many Thanksgiving dinners with my dad. He and Nonnie  have made the trip to our house many times to be with me and my wife and sons.

Because of an early memory I have with my dad of venturing into the California wilderness to cut down a Christmas tree (what I remember is mud, mud, and more mud) my wife and sons head out into whatever wilderness we can find where we live and obtain our family Christmas tree.

So many memories and I’m sure I’m forgetting much more than I’m remembering.

But the most important thing I know and am thankful for is that I am the dad I am today due, in large part, to my dad.

And the reason I say “I love you” to my sons nearly every day, if not several times a day, is because of my dad.

Thanks dad. I love you!

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