An " It's a funny life" Thanksgiving Part One

Happy Thanksgiving to everybody,



As the holiday of Thanksgiving approaches, I am truly reminded of everything I am thankful for. First of all I am thankful that I am still here and fairly healthy and that my family is healthy. The thing I am most thankful for though are the people who surround me every day. I'd like to go through a list of the people and tell you why they are so important to me. They enhance my life in so many ways. They are all like family to me and there is a good starting place.


First for my family! We will start at the top with the big man, everybody calls him Papa or Mr. V, but I just call him dad. Once when I was in the hospital I was laying in the bed just bored and all of a sudden from down the hallway I hear " YOOHOO!!!!!" while I knew that it was just my father he scared half the nurses to death! To this day whenever he calls me or I call him we greet each other with a rowdy"yoohoo". Now this doesn't matter whether there's anybody in the room or not we still do our strange greeting. My father volunteers every day at the local school where he assists with reading and math, but he hates math. I swear that every time he goes to that school he turns 14 and when he stays home he misses the kids terribly. Whenever I tell him something that I've learned on Facebook about a past student of his he quickly remembers everything about that student including their parents and how many times they came into the office and every detail yet he cannot find his glasses on most days. I am truly blessed with the father who makes me laugh every day of my life. He is perfect, even though he doesn't think so. So I am so thankful for my father.
The second person I am thankful for in my family is my dearest brother Sid. Now understand from the time we were born we were exact opposites. He's a Sagittarius I'm a Gemini, as children he was blonde I was brunette, he was skinny I was chubby, he is very religious I am not. And why change things when where adults. We're still as different as night and day. As time has gone by he has seen the light in many things and come toward my thinking in many. But, every time I have needed my brother he is been there for me. Another thing I give him great credit for is the wonderful wife he married my dear sister-in-law who is equally there for me when I need her. Now understand if my brother reads this and hears me say something good about him he may faint, so beware.

Now some of you may not know but I do have another brother, John and his beautiful Lisa. My parents brought John into our house shortly after I left for college. my parents truly fell in love with John and he has been part of our family ever since. I cannot tell you the amount of times that John and Lisa have offered to come to Green Bay whenever I've had a health problems, and there have been many times that we have taken them up on that.  While my relationship with John has had its rocky times. He is my brother and I love him and Lisa dearly and I am thankful that they are in my life everyday.

 And I'll finish this blog with my nephews. I am so blessed to have three amazing, wonderful, talented, loving and yes, they are a little crazy too. First came the twins, Benjamin and Michael. Now Benjamin from his earliest days looks like a little Sidney. While growing here up he wanted to be an Indian chief, a state senator from Wisconsin and in the end he became a Rabbi just like his father. While Ben and I don't agree on all of his philosophies and politics. I am so deeply proud of his accomplishments including his recent marriage to the beautiful Devorah Rivka and the recent event of him becoming a Rabbi. Then there is his twin Michael. Michael was always a little more adventurous than Benjamin. Being my Godson, I think is a little bit more like me" oy vey!" Michael is very intelligent. And is now in his first year of pharmaceutical college. When I was young I am wanted to be many things but one of them was a good uncle and truly my nephews make me so proud every day. The third nephew is Isaac. All I can say about Isaac is he is an amazing guy. He just appeared in his first starring role in the play Our Town. And he will be appearing in a great role for his winter musical in Aida.I see him every weekend when he brings me a meal from Papa I enjoy his company and his amazing sense of humor.

How f---ing lucky am I to have this wonderful base of support. Without these people I would not still be here. In part two of this blog I will be writing your about the people who help me in my daily life who I am so thankful for now this blog is called it's a funny life and trust me when you read about these people you will understand why I live a funny life!

Be superb!
 Richard