Hi everyone, welcome to Thanks for being here, a short, weekly pod to remind us of the many essential and beautiful ways we affect one another.

Every Sunday, I'll read a submission from a listener, Kelly Corrigan Wonders, could be wedding vows or about mitzvah toast, a eulogy or retirement speech.

We believe this is probably the loveliest way to tap into our better selves and remember our highest values.

We encourage you to share this podcast each week with one person you love. Maybe someone you miss need to bring closer.

Someone you want to feel your appreciation or admiration or both.

This is Thanks for being here.

This week's Thanks for being here is from a listener named Liz Walsh.

Hi Kelly, I have a poem, my girlfriend Mary Claire Sorenson wrote for her son's funeral.

He passed away on 12, 21, 22, at the age of 28, from melanoma.

I love everything you do and say you have made me laugh, cry and grow. Thanks for letting me send her poem.

Liz Walsh.

I remember.

I remember the day you were born, taking almost 24 hours to say hello. You're so small, so new, so innocent.

I remember thinking how lucky I was to have you from the moment I saw you.

At very first time, so sweet and small, the first and last time the word small would ever be used to describe you.

I remember bringing you home to your fish decorated nursery, not knowing that fish would make up a large part of your future.

Quietly being lulled to sleep by the noise of a fish.

In later years, you would return to those sounds over and over again, filling our houses and your own home with multiple fish tanks.

I remember your first days in school at Avery Elementary. It was you who introduced us to our Webster Groves family.

The friendships and bonds you built throughout your years were strong.

You were our first, our test case, our heart. As our family grew, you grew. And while you were large and stature, your heart and ability to shine was larger.

And oh, those stories you would tell.

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