Happy Thanksgiving 


For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
 
-Ralph Waldo Emerson 

My dad (and the rest of my family) is very close to his cousin and her husband who live in Chicago. His cousin's mother was instrumental in getting my dad and his family into the United States in the 1960s, at a time when it wasn't quite all that easy to get out of Poland, not to mention into the US. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to my Great Aunt Tilly and I am thankful for her, among many other people and things, this day.

My grandmother is so grateful for Aunt Tilly's courage and her belief in her baby brother (my grandfather) in bringing him here; in helping to find him opportunities to work and to start a new life in this great land. Thanksgiving is a time that I always think about what she did for my family. My grandmother said that she are thankful for communism, of all things. If it had not been so bad in Poland, my family would have never had the compulsion to leave. In that regard, it is amazing what one can be thankful for, even those things that you might not expect.

Aunt Tilly is one of the heroes of our family. Not only did she sponsor my grandparents and their two sons, but she raised a wonderful daughter who helped my dad throughout school and pushed him to be the man who he is today. My Aunt Tilly, my cousin Joann and her husband Kevin and three people in this world for whom I am very thankful (not to mention my parents, siblings and grandmother, but I could keep going on in that vain if I were to start, so I won't.)

Thank you. 

Posted: Thu - November 24, 2005 at 12:07 AM          

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