Royal Oak Tales: Daughter & Dad
Counting Blessings: A Thanksgiving Story
Life teaches columnist Gerry Boylan and his family a lesson.
This was the last story I wrote for my short story book collection, Gerry Tales, in 2009. Three years later, it still gives me a shiver. There is a fine line between life and death, exultation and despair, and as that weekend unfolded, our family brushed up too close to those boundaries. My hands shake and my heart quakes as I begin to tell this story of what families are all about. There is no Irish license taken; this is real life. On the Tuesday evening before Thanksgiving, our daughter Shannon checked into Beaumont Hospital, accompanied by her husband Steve. After nine months of pregnancy, it was baby time! Her mother, Kathy, joined them later in the evening, and, after a night of increasing contractions, Shannon’s labor began in …
Gerry Boylan
8:40 pm on Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family too, Mrs. Howell! more ›