Hi everyone. Welcome to Thanks for being here. A short weekly pad to remind us of the many

essential and beautiful ways we affect one another. Every Sunday I'll read a submission from a listener of Kelly Corrigan Wonders,

could be wedding vows or a Batmitzva toast, a eulogy or retirement speech.

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

values. We encourage you to share this

may be someone you miss or 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 a beautiful college essay written by Kira McAuliffe, who is now

Smith College. She writes about how as a kid she felt this terrific desire to control every facet of her life which manifested

in of all things mowing the lawn with her dad. In the summers together they trimmed the grass to perfection.

As she writes, she could not help her dad's drinking,

but in the mornings when they mowed together, he was sober.

It's a beautiful essay, when they mowed together, he was sober.

It's a beautiful essay revealing the struggle to let go, in this case of her dad's addiction.

Growing up on meadow road, the neighbors must have thought we were a family of neat freaks.

Look close enough and you would notice that the grass on our near naked lawn never grew taller than an inch.

Look from afar and you would see a pattern formed by trackmarks, a history of the mowers path.

Dad and I spent our hot summer mornings manicuring the lawn. Neither of us

could drive on the real road. I was far too young and he had too many DUIs. So we drove a John Deere lawnmower instead. When he stepped on the gas I

steered the wheel like the captain of a ship, exploring the depths of our one acre sea of greenery.

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