Giving thanks

Tom Purcell on Nov 15, 2022

Is the glass half empty or half full?

In my experience it’s always been half full -- and that’s one of many things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving.

We lost my father this year, and that leaves a huge hole in our hearts — until we focus on the life he lived so well and the many wonderful, loving memories of him my family and I will always have.

I got to experience 59 Thanksgivings with my dad, give or take — 59 cheerful gatherings in which he recited Grace before 40 or more cheerful extended family members.

I have random flashes of my dad throughout the days now — memories that come at me out of the blue.

I vividly remember one Saturday in December 1967, when I was 5.

It was uncharacteristically warm in Pittsburgh that year. My father was 34 then and his hair was black as coal. He stood nearly 6-foot-2, a powerful man.

As he lifted our Christmas tree off the roof of our white Ford station wagon, I marveled that his biceps and forearms were bigger than Popeye the Sailor Man’s!

It wasn’t too many years later that I – his only son -- became his side-kick to complete multiple family tasks.

Every Thursday, after dinner, we boarded our Plymouth Fury III station wagon and headed to the Del Farm grocery store in a small suburban plaza one mile away.

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