Thank You
Most people who know me and what I have been going through probably think I don't have much to be thankful for, however, I have and always have loved the holidays. I love thanksgiving, turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, doesn't get much better then that. My favorite food of all time is stuffing and leftover thanksgiving sandwich, yummy. Those of you that follow me obviously know that I wont be eating a thanksgiving meal, however my family will be. Really its not about the food, its all about family time and reflection time. Time for people to think about what they have and be grateful for it. Also remembering those that you may have lost, giving thanks that they are no longer in pain and thankful that you have someone special looking down on you. We should be thankful and grateful everyday but on thanksgiving it elevates and makes people think deeper, well at least it does for me.
A tradition in my family, as far back as I can remember, when we all could actually fit at the table, before eating we would go around and everybody had to say what they were thankful for. It has been a rough year for me health wise, but I am thankful for my health, thankful that no matter how bad it got I am here and for that I am grateful. Thankful for the doctors and nurses that have taken care of me both in patient and out patient. Some times when I am having a flare-up and feel really down, I am grateful for the nurses and for the doctors that have been there to lift me. Also thankful for those doctors and nurses that are still optimistic that I will get well enough that I do not need to wear a mask and gloves out, well enough that I will be able to walk into appointments with my own strength, well enough that I wont have to go to as many Wednesday Dana Farber days, well enough to be able to go out and live like a women my age should. I am so grateful for them because, at this point, they are hard to come by.
I am thankful for a roof over my head, there might be fights, screaming kids, screaming adults but at the end of the day this chaos does not just have a roof it is a house, and that is a lot more then a lot of people. When I was in HS I was in Christian Outreach and the first Monday of the month we would pack up our school van with a good amount of food, and we would bring it to the pine street in, in Boston. For those of you that don't know Pine street in is a homeless shelter in Boston, mostly men but as I recall in a different area of the building they had a small amount of women. We would unpack the van and then get dressed to serve the food. We would each take a station and we would serve tuna Florentine every time, I always tried to stay far away from that cuz it smells, looks, and taste yucky. We would see a lot of types of people but a majority of them would thank us and they always got excited because when we came they knew they would get a special homemade dessert, that we brought. Most of them were just so grateful to have a hot meal.
For the last couple of years on thanksgiving morning my sister would go with other volunteers from the cheesecake factory to the salvation army to prepare a thanksgiving meal. This year she brought her daughter who is three, and her other kiddos who are 7 and 11 and they took part in preparing the meal. I am thankful for my sister to volunteer and even though the kids might not understand homelessness and people not having food, but by starting them young will hopefully build there character and make them more grateful for the small things.
I am very thankful for my family. My mom is one of the strongest women I have ever met. She has been there for me before I got sick and by my side during all the hard times. There is no way to show my mom by actions or words, how grateful I am to have her. I am also thankful for the relationship I have with my noni. I am so grateful for her, allowing me to vent to her on the phone, or to give news. She always calls me after an appointment to see what they said and I also call and read all my posts to her before I post. I am thankful of my siblings, we may fight and disagree but what family doesn't, at the end of the day we are family. I am thankful for my nieces and nephews, no matter what the situation is they usually can make me smile. I don't think my brother and sisters know really how grateful I am to be a part of their lives. Besides food, children and a family were very important to me and since the children part may not be in the cards, but being a part of their lives is amazing. I am thankful for my fiancé, when we first met we hated each other, however through mutual friends our opinions of each other changed. Javier has been here for me through some of the toughest times, he has given up a lot to be with me. Words can not describe how grateful I am that he is still in my life, even after me trying to push him away. He is still by my side and together we are a little family.
I am also thankful for my friends, the ones that stood by me and are still there for me. I am also thankful that I reunited with a couple friends from high school, people I haven't seen in 10 years, they took interest in my illness and did not run away.
So in general I do have a lot of things that I am thankful for. I take advantage of the good days and on the bad days I try to think positive thinking about what I do have. What are you thankful for? Comments
.
A tradition in my family, as far back as I can remember, when we all could actually fit at the table, before eating we would go around and everybody had to say what they were thankful for. It has been a rough year for me health wise, but I am thankful for my health, thankful that no matter how bad it got I am here and for that I am grateful. Thankful for the doctors and nurses that have taken care of me both in patient and out patient. Some times when I am having a flare-up and feel really down, I am grateful for the nurses and for the doctors that have been there to lift me. Also thankful for those doctors and nurses that are still optimistic that I will get well enough that I do not need to wear a mask and gloves out, well enough that I will be able to walk into appointments with my own strength, well enough that I wont have to go to as many Wednesday Dana Farber days, well enough to be able to go out and live like a women my age should. I am so grateful for them because, at this point, they are hard to come by.
I am thankful for a roof over my head, there might be fights, screaming kids, screaming adults but at the end of the day this chaos does not just have a roof it is a house, and that is a lot more then a lot of people. When I was in HS I was in Christian Outreach and the first Monday of the month we would pack up our school van with a good amount of food, and we would bring it to the pine street in, in Boston. For those of you that don't know Pine street in is a homeless shelter in Boston, mostly men but as I recall in a different area of the building they had a small amount of women. We would unpack the van and then get dressed to serve the food. We would each take a station and we would serve tuna Florentine every time, I always tried to stay far away from that cuz it smells, looks, and taste yucky. We would see a lot of types of people but a majority of them would thank us and they always got excited because when we came they knew they would get a special homemade dessert, that we brought. Most of them were just so grateful to have a hot meal.
For the last couple of years on thanksgiving morning my sister would go with other volunteers from the cheesecake factory to the salvation army to prepare a thanksgiving meal. This year she brought her daughter who is three, and her other kiddos who are 7 and 11 and they took part in preparing the meal. I am thankful for my sister to volunteer and even though the kids might not understand homelessness and people not having food, but by starting them young will hopefully build there character and make them more grateful for the small things.
I am very thankful for my family. My mom is one of the strongest women I have ever met. She has been there for me before I got sick and by my side during all the hard times. There is no way to show my mom by actions or words, how grateful I am to have her. I am also thankful for the relationship I have with my noni. I am so grateful for her, allowing me to vent to her on the phone, or to give news. She always calls me after an appointment to see what they said and I also call and read all my posts to her before I post. I am thankful of my siblings, we may fight and disagree but what family doesn't, at the end of the day we are family. I am thankful for my nieces and nephews, no matter what the situation is they usually can make me smile. I don't think my brother and sisters know really how grateful I am to be a part of their lives. Besides food, children and a family were very important to me and since the children part may not be in the cards, but being a part of their lives is amazing. I am thankful for my fiancé, when we first met we hated each other, however through mutual friends our opinions of each other changed. Javier has been here for me through some of the toughest times, he has given up a lot to be with me. Words can not describe how grateful I am that he is still in my life, even after me trying to push him away. He is still by my side and together we are a little family.
I am also thankful for my friends, the ones that stood by me and are still there for me. I am also thankful that I reunited with a couple friends from high school, people I haven't seen in 10 years, they took interest in my illness and did not run away.
So in general I do have a lot of things that I am thankful for. I take advantage of the good days and on the bad days I try to think positive thinking about what I do have. What are you thankful for? Comments
.
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