Law Office of M.Teresa A. Faherty

09/25/2026

Most parents never stop worrying about being a burden. So they stop asking.

They will tell you they are fine. They will say not to go to any trouble. They will insist the drive is too long, the visit is too much, the phone call can wait until the weekend.

Often, what they mean is something else entirely.

A phone call without a reason tells them they are still part of your ordinary day, not just the holidays. Patience when they tell a story for the third time tells them their memories are still worth hearing, even the ones you know by heart.

Help is the tricky one. Many older parents need a hand with more as the years go by, but nobody wants to feel helpless. There is a difference between doing something for someone and doing it with them. Offering a ride without a sigh. Showing them how the new phone works without taking it out of their hands. Letting them keep as much of their independence as they can.

Being included matters more than people realize. Asking their opinion on the family trip. Saving them a seat at the planning table, not just the dinner table.

And underneath all of it is one question many aging parents carry quietly. Do I still matter to my children?

You can answer that without saying a word. You answer it every time you show up.

Call this week with no reason at all.
Listen to the story again, all the way to the end.
Ask them to be part of the next thing you plan.

They spent years making you feel needed. They deserve to feel remembered.

09/25/2026

09/25/2026

Nobody handed us a rulebook. We just watched the grown-ups around us and learned.

You said please when you asked for something and thank you when you got it. You brought back the casserole dish, washed, sometimes with something baked inside. You looked at people when they talked to you, because anything else was rude.

None of it felt like etiquette. It felt like being a decent person.

What strikes me now is how small each of these habits is. Returning a shopping cart takes about thirty seconds. Calling ahead when you are running late takes one phone call. Holding a door costs nothing at all.

And yet every one of them sends the same quiet message. I see you. Your time matters. Your home matters. Your effort in the kitchen did not go unnoticed.

That is really what manners were for. Nobody was trying to be fancy. Manners were how people showed respect in the small, daily moments that make up most of a life.

The last one on the list might be the best of all. Leave a place better than you found it. A campsite, a rental, a friend's kitchen, a conversation. It is a simple rule that covers almost everything else.

Good manners are not old-fashioned. They are just less common than they used to be, which makes them stand out more when you see them.

Hold the next door you walk through.
Say thank you to whoever cooks your next meal.
Put the cart back, even when nobody is watching.

The small courtesies were never small to the person receiving them.

09/25/2026

I watch him with wonder as he grows, as he soars, and as he makes his mark on the world… ✨♥️🌙

09/23/2026

It felt like one long Italian-American dining room, lights glowing overhead, music bouncing between the buildings, and families moving shoulder to shoulder through the crowd.

Day 5 brought Italian-American classics, live performances, and an unforgettable Opera Night. Every few steps, another familiar smell found you: sausage and peppers sizzling on the grill, crispy rice balls, cannoli, rainbow-cookie donuts…and zeppole covered in enough powdered sugar to follow you home. 😂

But this Feast has always been about more than food.

In 1926, Neapolitan immigrants gathered on Mulberry Street for a one-day celebration honoring San Gennaro, the patron saint of Naples. They had crossed an ocean, but they refused to leave their traditions behind.

One hundred years later, the celebration stretches across eleven blocks, and Little Italy still knows how to make thousands of people feel like one family.

That was the most beautiful part of Day 5: the old-timers, the children, the music, the noise, and the unmistakable pride of a community remembering exactly where it came from. 🇮🇹❤️

If you were there last night, what did you eat first, and what would you go back for?

04/19/2026

04/19/2026

Justice for Buffy!