I want to wish everyone a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving holiday. Despite hating November and the weather this time of year, this is my favorite holiday. Ever since Dean and I married I claimed Thanksgiving as my holiday so I could cook (a passion of mine) and be surrounded in my home by my family and friends. I love having lots of people with whom to share the bounty. So I just wanted to take a few moments to talk about the things we have to be thankful for before the truly hectic part comes. Too often, we do forget to be grateful for what we have, particularly in this fast paced, technology driven,  sound bite world of ours. This year is particularly poignant for me as it is the first year of thanksgiving with having sent our second son off to college in September and thus suffering empty nest syndrome. Many parents love it! I am not one of them-I love being surrounded by people who need me and whom I can mother. I think that is why I love lawyering so much. So First, I am thankful l to have both my boys and their assorted friends and girlfriends home for the holiday, and grateful that they appreciate the tradition of our thanksgiving dinner traditions. Keeping in the youth tradition, I am especially grateful this year to have been honored by the Township Officials of Illinois with a “Friend to Youth Award”. I was chosen for this statewide award for the two programs that I instituted in my work as a Maine Township Trustee. This past spring I coordinated and hosted a Hazing/Bullying seminar in conjunction with Maine Township and the local newspaper; Journal &Topics . This type of behavior has unfortunately become all too frequent in our schools across the country, with horror stories making the ten o’oclock news on a regular basis. So I am grateful that I was able to touch a cord and take a small step towards coming together to combat such events as well as to give students some practical resources. To read article click here
I am thankful for my friends who keep me sane, my staff who keeps me organized and takes such good care of me and the Law Offices on a daily basis.
I am thankful for my wonderful IT guy who comes to fix my ever expanding amount of devices/computers when my negative computer energy field breaks them!
I am thankful that I found my passion at age 27 when I took the intensive trial advocacy course at Kent and fell in love with trial litigation and criminal law.
I am thankful that what I love to do turned into a career spanning 25 years as a Prosecutor and for all the people who helped and mentored me along the way. I am thankful that I was assigned to Judge Fitzgerald’s courtroom where I met and married my husband, Dean and for his love and support.
I am thankful that at age 55 I was able to forge a new and different path and open in private practice where I still get to help people with their needs and problems.
I am thankful to my clients who trust me with their most personal and pressing matters.
I am thankful that for almost 27 years now I have loved my job.
I am thankful for the 15 years I had with my mother and most of all for my father -the strongest man I know, a true self made man; concentration camp survivor to world renowned architect who raised us to have a work ethic like his.
I am thankful that my father has  always let me follow my heart and has always been there to rescue me when the heart hasn’t been so wise!
So from all of us at the Law Offices of Laura J Morask, we thank you and ask you; ‘What are you thankful for?” It sounds corny but sometimes in this nutty world it  grounds you to stop and reflect on this for a few minutes before you settle around the football game or start basting the bird or god forbid-go on a Black Friday shopping spree!
Happy Thanksgiving!