French author Marcel Proust wrote, “Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

It’s that time of the year when we give thanks to those gardeners who are our friends and families, and perhaps a few acquaintances that have enriched our lives with their love and friendship.

I would like to acknowledge my personal gardeners, those who have tilled the soil and planted the seeds to help me grow into the person that I am.

I am grateful for my good friend Michael Daugherty, who passed away suddenly this month. Michael and I spent many spring and summer days sharing hotel rooms with our sons when they played travel baseball and when we were there for our kids all the way through their high school athletic careers. It was just this past August when he called me, and with great pride in his voice he told me his son had pitched a no-hitter to win a championship for his Lehigh Valley men’s team.

Thanks to Emmett McCall, our retired sports editor, for his friendship and for allowing me the freedom to write the accounts of the events I covered with my particular style of writing. Our new sports editor, Pat Matsinko, and longtime assistant Rod Heckman have supported me throughout every assignment I do for this wonderful newspaper.

I extend the same gratitude to my editor-in-chief, Marta Gouger, who, for the past 12 years, has given me free rein to write about anything that comes to mind in these Saturday columns.

Though we may not often see each other, I am blessed to speak on the phone with Tom Lienhard, Bill Nyers, Anthony Pecoriello and Sean Cuffe. I have coached baseball with Tom and known him since my son was 7 years old. I was Bill’s football coach and academic tutor when he was 14 and our relationship has grown closer through the years, even after he recently moved to Panama. I have been exchanging quotes of the day with Anthony, a former student of mine and Army Airborne veteran. I was Sean’s mentor when he began his teaching career over two decades ago. I conducted his marriage ceremony on the beach in New Jersey and we are both die-hard New York Mets fans.

Due to a few physical issues, I have been absent from my bowling friends, but until I can return, I thank Vern, Chuck, Neil, George, Jack, Bill, Tom and Bob for the friendship and for the fun we have together on Tuesday mornings.

Once again, my sincere thanks to Pat and Alex Stasyk for their sincere friendship and allowing me the privilege to feel like a kid again whenever I come to fish off their lakefront property.

For the good part of a year, my friend and former teaching colleague Jeff Grose and I have collaborated on a book about his life. Our friendship has grown stronger despite not seeing each other since two years ago. We have stuck to a working plan to talk on the phone every Friday morning for the past year to write his story.

Jeff has said with a laugh: “Mitch Albom had Tuesdays with Morrie and I have had Fridays with Rich.” Our book is currently in editorial review.

I am grateful to JL Davis, author of seven novels, and Mike Riley, who has written three books, for being an inspiration to me to continue to work at our craft with a passion for storytelling.

Michael Tedesco and I will be celebrating 60 years of friendship in 2025. We have been there for each other in good times and bad, through sickness and health and, unlike many marriages, we will be “brothers” together until death do us part.

Every Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, my children and I travel to New Jersey to spend time with my cousins, nieces, nephews and their families in wonderful exchanges of love and fellowship.

Speaking of my children, I am so grateful to have the two best kids any father would want. Richie is a sophomore at Lehigh University, where he studies mechanical engineering and plays baseball. Sadie will graduate from Jim Thorpe High School in June. She is ranked in the top 10% of her class. Beyond their achievements, I love spending cherished time with each of them because they are both enjoyable to be with. Raising children today is no easy task, and I am so proud of them and that they have embraced their independence without ignoring their dear old dad.

I have shared all of my world with Sharon for the past six years. Though we live apart, our hearts are tied together. Expressing my appreciation to her on Thanksgiving was a joyful act of gratitude for me. Sharon has blessed me with her kindness, her love and her comforting presence.

My thanks go out to my readers of this column. I truly appreciate your kind words and I enjoy reading your emails and having had breakfasts and lunches with a few of you as well.

William Ward said: “God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say, ‘thank you?’ ”

He also wrote, “Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.”

I have found that two of the most endearing words we can say to each other, especially at times when it’s least expected are “thank you.” Whether it be someone holding a door open for us at a store or a dear loved one performing an act of kindness, let us never forget to express our gratitude.

As William Ward said, we have the power within us to “transform common days into thanksgivings.”

Email Rich Strack at richiesadie11@gmail.com