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Thank You - Thanksgiving
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Thank You

We’re going to take take the holiday literally here at LaxAllStars.com and then take a page out of Jon Gordon’s “Say Thank You” book.

Jon made up a great 5 step process for gratitude that works great at Thanksgiving. Try them by themselves or all at once: 1) Take a 10 minute walk and say out loud who you are thankful for; 2) have everyone at Thanksgiving discuss what they’re thankful for; 3) write someone a thank you letter and pay a visit to read it to them; 4) thank people at work, like Doug Conant, the CEO of Campbell’s Soup that wrote 30,000 ‘thank you’ notes on his own and energized his company 5) Say ‘thank you’ each night before bed.

Thank you lacrosse fans around the world for being supportive of my endeavors at Jacksonville U. and the Casey Powell World Lacrosse Foundation. Thank you, Heather Chase O’Neill, for being the force of nature behind the foundation. Thank you, Ambassadors for always representing our sport with the highest of standards.

To me, Thanksgiving is a call to the simple days of my childhood to recall how blessed the Powell family has been. If I recall a vivid memory from Thanksgiving, it was the overwhelming power of happiness and togetherness.

It was the holiday we played tackle football in the front school yard with my brothers, our neighbors, and my cousin ‘Steamroller.’ We’d wind up with a house full of family jammed around a small table in the kitchen because that’s what togetherness really means.

The incredible women of the house prepared a traditional thanksgiving feast. My Dad and Uncle would coral the male Powell’s in the living room for laughter and impromptu sing alongs to Willie Nelson and John Denver.

“Take me home, country road, to a place, I belong…”

I love Thanksgiving because my roots in Carthage will always be the foundation of the joy the day brings.

This year we are taking the Casey Powell Tour Bus on a magical Southeastern trail. I’m picking up Bella and Heather and Connor and Emily and heading over to my brother Jason’s house in Atlanta. We’ll get to spend some time with his wife Mindy and his children Taylor and Brody down in Georgia.

Jason built the infamous Legends Bar in his basement to honor the lacrosse careers of my brothers and I. The Legends Bar is an *eghem* fully stocked and operational bar with three distinct walls. Mike, Ryan and myself each get a wall. We each have our own section of memorabilia dedicated to our career and there are some powerful items in it.

When I step up to the Legends Bar I don’t know whether to order a beer, try on a signed national championship jersey, sport a World Championship ring to dinner, try to re-cash one of the oversized checks, or just admire the lacrosse ball that broke the Major-League Lacrosse scoring record. I haven’t seen much of it since it left my stick for the back of the net.

So, I’m thankful to everything that led me and my brothers to everything represented in the Legends Bar, the support of my foundation and for my position at Jacksonville U.

Thank you, America, for always being there.

CP

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Photo credit: monkeyseemonkeylax.com