My Thanksgiving List -100 Reasons for Gratitude

1. I am grateful for a large and loving family, the Flynns and Maliszewskis and Thorsens.
2. I am grateful to the core for two magnificent sons, Jens Holger and Andreas Holger. They swell my heart and make me very, very proud.
3. I am grateful for Ralf and a 33-year adventure that has taken us through blissful sunsets and some rapids that few other couples could survive.
4. I am grateful for Arizona, its warm and embracing sun, a new state to call home.
5. I am grateful for dreams that did not give up on me.
6. I am grateful for lessons learned in some sorry and stupid ass mistakes I have made over the years.
7. I am grateful for every single moment I have lived and I would not change a single second in my life.
8. I am grateful for the past and the memories attached to it.
9. I am grateful for the present and the memories we are creating today.
10. I am grateful for the future and the memories we will craft over time.
11. I am grateful for good health.
12. I am grateful for a precious and wonderful and politically savvy daughter-in-law who married my son despite his misguided political notions ;-)
13. I am grateful for Jens Holger's extended family in the Pangborns.
14. I am grateful that my little guy is wearing a new fashioned smile borne in a new relationship with a sweet nurse in Columbus.
15. I am grateful for my sister, Linda, who is the most perfect person I know.
16. I am grateful for my sister, Theresa, who is still a little flower in our lives.
17. I am grateful for my brother, Jerry, whose mere name makes my arms reach for a big hug every single time I think of him.
18. I am thankful for my newest sister, Joeann. Whoever would have guessed you could find a new sister at this stage in life?
19. I am thankful for my dear friend, Connie, and 22 years of real estate and discovery.
20. I am thankful for Ellen, my oldest girlfriend, who shared my youth, taught me to play chess, walked with me to the library, turned me on to Dylan Thomas, Leonard Cohen, Judy Collins, and Bob Dylan, and traded Beatle cards.
21. I am grateful for my oldest friend, Robert, who shared my playpen when we were babies, walked with me to kindergarten, and who still calls me "Frances Flynn."
22. I am grateful for my grandmother, Frances Flynn, who took me and Linda to Radio City Music Hall and Coney Island, and who shared her stories with me over shared tea bags in her kitchen.
23. I am grateful for cousins Bobby and Franny, who share memories of Coney Island, running through subway turnstiles, and fishing and box turtles in Bordentown.
24. I am grateful for my Babci, in her hairnet and apron, making placki and babka and telling stories about the Baby Jesus.
25. I am grateful for my mother, who gave me life and showed me some secrets along the way.
26. I am grateful for my dad, who still shares a passion for words and who can speak with his eyes and his heart in synch.
27. I am grateful for my godfather, Uncle John, for trips to the Jersey shore as kids, for his love and shared wisdom, for his sense of history, honor, and country as it should be more than it is.
28. I am grateful that he found Gailann, and that he made her a part of the family ... and grateful that she is such a special part of my life.
29. I am grateful for my godmother, Reggie, and a very special connection, fractured as it may be.
30. I am  grateful to the Sisters who have touched my life in a special way, Sister Ursula, Sister Malachy, Sister Norma, Sister Declan, Sister Barbara, Sister Maura, Sister Timothy, Sister Helen Edward, Hermana Anita, Sister Charles, Sister Vincent, and the Sister in second grade who taught us the Hokey Pokey (sorry, I cannot remember her name. I know that Robert remembers her name and I will ask him the next time we speak).
31. I am grateful for Frances Loughran, who lived next door to us in Paramus since 1953 ... who is a lifelong source of love and inspiration ... I cannot even imagine what life would be life without her.
32. I am grateful for Rose Abrams, whose lyrical Irish brogue filled the air at dinnertime when she called her brood to dinner, "Sheeerrrrrryyyyy, Kathyyyyy, Donnnniiieeeee, Sheilaaaaa, Patttyyyyy, Maryyyyy" and who offered warm cupcakes after school.
33. I am grateful for my brother-in-law Tony, for musical memories at Lehigh and a lifetime of memories and three wonderful nephews ... for love and support.
34. I am grateful for my brother-in-law Juancho who remains fully vested in our hearts and lives despite some paperwork he and my sister signed that dissolved their marriage.
35. I am grateful for seven wonderful nephews and a gorgeous niece -- Anthony Michael, Nicholas, Joseph, Christopher, Gregory, Eric, Jeremiah, and Jessica.
36. I am grateful for my sister-in-law Gretchen, and for her friendship and hospitality.
37. I am grateful for my Polish heritage and a strong grounding in it ... and for a dream to visit Poland one day soon.
38. I am grateful for my Irish heritage and for the distant cousins I met there so many years ago.
39. I am grateful for Denmark and the rich heritage it has given my sons.
40. I am grateful for Mildith, my mother-in-law, who offered love and support and friendship despite some serious misgivings about her son's choice in a wife.
41. I am grateful for Holger, my father-in-law, who immediately recognized my potential to produce prize-winning offspring ... and was he ever right about that!!!
42. I am grateful for Ralf's eldest sister, Anna, who I hope will visit Poland with me the next time I visit Bornholm.
43. I am grateful for Birthe and Knud, who gave our Jens a home for a year and a chance to explore his Danish self.
44. I am grateful to Jens and Birte, who gave Andreas a home and two sisters for a year.
45. I am grateful for Gunver, free spirit and soul sister to her big brother.
46. I am grateful for Lily and Finn and a chance to touch pure innocence and joy.
47. I am grateful to find Blogging to find an emerging voice.
48. I am grateful for new friends and old friends.
49. I am grateful for new ways to meet friends and colleagues ... for an evolving community at RealTown.
50. I am grateful for the Internet and a New World to explore.
51. I am grateful for an opportunity to brainstorm and work with some of the most brilliant minds in the real estate industry.
52. I am grateful that I was able to make a contribution to "Going Where," an incredible book by Bernice Ross ... it offered transparency and revelation that is exhilarating and liberating. The book even spawned a blog!
53. I am grateful for lessons in gratitude from Joeann's blogs.
54. I am grateful that I have learned lessons about forgiveness.
55. I am grateful for the forgiveness of others and especially for forgiving myself.
56. I am grateful for advice, counsel, and direction from the best in the business.
57. I am grateful that Byron Van Arsdale is such an astute proofreader ... and such a wonderful new friend!
58. I am grateful that I have learned to give thanks ... and for reflecting on gratitude each morning and evening.
59. I am grateful for hummingbirds that hover outside my window at eye level.
60. I am grateful for a view of Foothills and skies that awe and inspire me.
61. I am grateful for warm weather and a searing sun.
62. I am grateful for the song of new birds.
63. I am grateful for joy that embraces me in every waking moment of my life these days.
64. I am grateful for the music of Danny Doyle and Judy Collins, my favorite songsters.
65. I am grateful for an Arizona sun that loves to rise my breads.
66. I am grateful for CARE and for the work that they do around the world.
67. I am grateful for Joeann Fossland's vision to create the  Web Women Giving Circle and the work we do for CARE.
68. I am grateful for Peggy Northrop's vision at MORE Magazine that was the inspiration for the Web Women Giving Circle.
69. I am grateful for a trip to Peru earlier this year with CARE and More Magazine and the Web Women Giving Circle that was the trip of a lifetime.
70. I am grateful for the National Assn. of Real Estate Editors ... meeting this group was like "coming home" and set me in a new direction.
71. I am grateful for 22 years of friendship with Lynn and an opportunity to share our lives until she left us in June.
72. I am grateful for the life-changing Business Planning Retreat in November, 2005, that brought me to Tucson for the first time.
73. I am grateful in advance for the next Business Planning Retreat, in Hawaii in January, and for being open to the life changing moments it is bound to create!
74. I am grateful for Annunciation School, Paramus Catholic Girls High School, and Paramus High School and the learning that happened there and the friends and people I met.
75. I am grateful for Saint Luke's Hospital in Bethlehem, PA, and for Dr. Anna Niewiarowska and an incredible community of cancer health care providers, survivors, and caregivers.
76. I am grateful for the chance to learn about hunger.
77. I am grateful for abundance.
78. I am grateful for the small creatures of the desert.
79. I am grateful for Maryknoll as a lifelong source of inspiration.
80. I am grateful for Ho'oponopono and what it brings to my life each day.
81. I am grateful for a chance to reconnect with my inner child.
82. I am grateful for surrender to hope and love.
83. I am grateful for reconciliation on all levels in my life.
84. I am grateful for all the pain and confusion in my life that makes today's joy all the more delicious.
85. I am grateful for a lifetime of memories with Uncle Walter and Aunt Maureen and for their special brand of love every Sunday when they visited my parents in my mother's final days.
86. I am grateful for summers of love in Bordentown when Aunt Jo opened her doors and shared a house full of boy cousins with me and Linda.
87. I am grateful for Aunt Theresa and her John and her kids who share some special memories of visits by a pair of Frances Flynns over the years.
88. I am grateful for Jean Wohlers and Cristina Sosa and Maryann Cirner and Janet Saward and some other high school friends from my short lived hipped days.
89. I am grateful for many contemplative hours at early morning Mass at Annunciation.
90. I am grateful for the chance to kick up my heels in London, all over Ireland, in Rome, and around Spain as a teenager.
91. I am grateful for memories of slow dances at Paramus Catholic when girls had to wear dresses and boys had to wear jackets and ties.
92. I am grateful for my teenage jobs as popcorn girl and usherette at Century Theater, and as a waitress at diners and Jahn's ice cream parlor.
93. I am grateful for my first job as an associate editor ... and for all the jobs in magazine publishing that I had.
94. I am grateful that Annette Leahy is such an astute proofreader.
95. I am grateful that our REALTOR Joan Orlando referred us to Connie Glagola in Bethlehem when we decided to move to Pennsylvania.
96. I am grateful that we moved out of Pennsylvania and moved to Arizona.
97. I am grateful for each wisp of breath I take in this gorgeous new place we live.
98. I am grateful for the children that are the promise of future.
99. I am grateful for happiness and grief, and for joy and sorrow.
100. I am grateful for a cup that runneth over.
101. I am grateful for you, whether I know you or not.

Comments

[Bernice Ross]

Dear Fran,

What a magnificent acknowledgement--you are a gift in our lives and we are grateful for your presence. Making a list of 100 people to whom you are grateful is a magnificent way to celebrate the holidays. Thank you for the reminder to remember what matters at this time of year.

Happy Holidays! Warmly Bernice

[Joeann Fossland]

Wow! I love a gal that takes on a challenge! This is a great list and I am grateful for your friendship, your bread, your soups, your clams and your Blogging!!!

[Paula]

Fran - what a magnificent list! There is much to be thankful for - all we need to do is look within and around.:)

[Linda Licata]

From me and all of those who love you dearly, thanks for the memories and the "jog" to our memories- so many warm feelings are made present by your words!