Grandpa says: Thank you to all who sent to me letters describing things for which you are grateful this Thanksgiving season.
• I am grateful that I am retiring on New Year’s Eve. With my upcoming retirement. I want to share a few tips I learned in a life time as a septic tank pumper. Don’t waste your money on those products claiming to keep your tank energized with bacteria. You are wasting up to $10 a month. Just put a packet of yeast down your drain monthly. It is only about 35¢ and works better. Don’t use anti-bacterial bath or hand soap or bleach or pine cleaners. They all kill the bacteria your tank needs. Do this and you won’t need my replacements coming out so often.
• We adopted a dog from the animal shelter, instead of paying a puppy mill. We could not be happier! It is just my husband and me left in the house and now we have (puppy’s name withheld) to help make our home not feel so empty.
• I want to tell Aurora mayor Richard Irvin just how grateful I am that he took charge and helped make the Aurora Pride Parade a reality. I am so glad we have a mayor who does not let other’s hate dictate his policies. God bless our mayor!
• I am very thankful for the information you gave us about freezing our credit report. The junk mail has slowed way down.
• You want to know what I am very thankful for? I truly appreciate the governor and State legislators! Let me explain. I love my job. I have been there many years. I have tolerated Chicagoland Winters because this is where my job is. Our new governor and legislature did me a great big favor when they passed the taxes on businesses and the new minimum wage laws. My company is moving out of Illinois to (another state) and I have been asked to go with them! This may have never happened if Illinois politicians had any concept of reality. Thank you to the voters of Illinois for electing (slur deleted). I can now have the job that I have loved for years and be living in a warmer climate.
• When my son passed away, his girlfriend put their child up for adoption. It was an open adoption. I am so very grateful that the adoptive parents have allowed us to remain in the child’s life and call us his grandparents. These new parents are saints.
• In January, 2020 I will celebrate more than two decades of clean sobriety.
• I am grateful my son went to prison on a cannabis charge. He grew up a lot in prison. I am even more grateful that he can apply for clemency and get his record expunged under the new law. He was a kid who made a stupid decision. He should not have to carry that stigma for the rest of his life.
• I am grateful to the people who donate to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Our (child) is cancer free.
Grandpa says: God Bless and have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Got something stuck in your craw? Ask Grandpa. Address your letters to Ask Grandpa c/o The Voice, PO Box 123, Aurora, IL 60507 or send an E-mail to askgrandpa@thevoice.us.