I would like to take this opportunity, on Thanksgiving Day 2013, to express my appreciation to family and friends who have supported me, prayed for me, and voiced their concern for me over this tumultuous year. I am eternally grateful.

I would also like to acknowledge that I am truly thankful to have survived on this planet for more than 67 years. Similar to all humans, my life has had ups and downs, successes and failures, good days and bad days. All in all, though, I have been blessed with good health, fantastic friends, a meaningful and rewarding career, and wonderful family members.

Many, many years ago, when I was a student at Providence College, I expressed my “philosophy of life” in an essay. In that document, I stated that a person’s purpose in life is to be happy and that everyone defines happiness differently. To me happiness depends on love, and I have made love the driving force in my life — love of my wife, love of my children and grandchildren, love of my family and friends, love of knowledge, love of travel, love of music, and love of life.

Now that I have reached the twilight of my time on Earth and am facing my greatest challenge, my cancer, this Thanksgiving has considerably more meaning than previous ones. My appreciation of life’s blessings is boundless. Happy Thanksgiving to All!!