My Gratitude Journal/My Life
Chapter One
Gratitude — the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.
A baby boy was born on April 28th, 1953. Me. It was a cool spring day in Chicago. Now, I was a very lucky baby. It would take me decades to realize how lucky I was.
I came into this world the third and last child of loving parents. A father that survived WWII and a mom that was…how can I say this…supermom. My brother, the oldest child, was nearly nine years older than me. My sister was four years older than me. I was surrounded by love right from the start.
How can I describe my dad? He was like most fathers in those days. Got up, went to work, came home. Supported his family. Oh, and ate dinner. He was a good neighbor, had a dozen or so friends, and was a well-respected tradesman. He was not really active in any extracurricular events his children were involved with.
But what was on display every day was his love for his wife. My father died peacefully at eighty-seven. He was surrounded by his kids and grandchildren. I held his hand at his last breath. He told me “I want to go home.” I told him it’s okay to go. Never in my life would I have thought I would repeat this with a loved one.
