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WEDNESDAY THOUGHT 5/14/08

May 13, 2008 on 6:58 pm | By John Ingrisano | In Faith & Forgiveness | No Comments

Though he once tried to kill me as a child (a story for some other time), my brother, Lou, and I always had a terrific, fun-loving relationship as adults.  We would think nothing of “borrowing” each other’s wallets or car keys or clothes, sending dead animal parts to each other in the mail (the goat horn really threw him for a moment), or spoiling a going-so-well pickup in a tavern by wrapping his arms around me and saying, “Oh, Stud Muffin, please come home.  I was wrong and I’m so sorry “  We tormented each other and argued like brothers, but he is my best friend.  (I used to tell him he was my favorite brother…until he figured out that he is my only brother.)  We’ve seen each other through a lot of tough times.  But I never in my life truly imagined how much he loved and trusted me until about 10 or 12 years ago, when Lou thought I may have taken $50,000 that had been entrusted to me as part of our inheritance, and he never said a word to me about it.

Handling my father’s affairs after he got sick, I would provide written reports to my brother periodically.  Somehow, I “lost” an account worth about $50,000.  It was still there, but it fell off my ledgers.  I was going through a challenging divorce (like there are fun divorces maybe?) so I can see how it might have happened. When I “found” the account about a year later, I was all excited when I told him.  Lou’s reply:  “Oh, yeah, I knew about it.  I just figured you needed the money, so I saw no reason to bring it up.”

My point?  If you are blessed with that kind of unconditional love, count your blessings long and often.  Oh, and if you think you may not be (oh, darn, he’s gonna turn this into some kind of Jesus Freak thing!), how about God?  He loves us, even when we haven’t done a darn thing to deserve it … and he probably won’t try to steal your wallet, either.  Count your blessings.  Enjoy this day.  Tell people just how much you love them. — jri

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