NOVEMBER/THANKSGIVING

I guess everyone has a month in their lives that they would like to skip over each year and get it over with. November has long been that month for me. It is a bittersweet month for me, one in which I lost many people I loved very much. Oh yes, I have lost people in other months, too, but November is the one I don't like the
most.

I LOVE holidays, so it doesn't seem fair, but that's why it is "bittersweet" I am grateful for my life, my friends,
and most of all for my family. God has been good to me and blessed me in so many ways. In a recent visit to
Idaho, our relationships with many of Wayne's family were renewed. Our facebook relationships, too, have taken us to a new level with being able to communicate more closely with family and friends separated by miles, yet connected thru the internet.

I am always reminded at this time of year of those I miss so very much. Let me tell you about two Thanksgivings that come to mind:

The first was in 1982 (I hope I got that year right) It was Thanksgiving, and everyone had gathered at our house on Shipman to celebrate the holiday. Not too much stands out in my mind about tha t Thanksgiving being any different from many others, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. It was the Tuesday following the
holiday that I got a frantic call from my mom, saying "Dorothy, something has happened to your Dad, can
you come over?" Yes, my Dad had slipped away quietly during the night. Thinking back to the T hursday
before, I recalled my dad and mom leaving our house and Dad kissed me good-bye, Not unusual, we always
kissed when saying good-bye, but what was unusual, he also hugged me, and said "This was the best Thanksgiving ever, Thank you" I never spoke to my dad again.

Then a few years later, another Thanksgiving is etched in my mind and heart. My wonderful husband of 35
years had just passed away, the week before the holiday. It is ironic that this year, 22 years later, the calendar is identical to 1987. On the 1st of November, an ambulance came and took Wayne back to the hospital. His cancer was winning.l It was a tough 19 days, with many calls to t he family that today could be
the day. Rev. Box, the chaplain at the hospital said, just t ake it one day at a time, look forward to Thanksgiving, but in my heart I knew that was not going to be. On Thursday, the 19th, one week before the
celebration of Thanksgiving, I had been at the hospital all day, as I had been the other 18 days. Beth and
Henry decided to take me out for dinner to give me a break, and said they would bring me back to the hospit al
later, if I wanted to come. We went to Coco's, a place Wayne and I had gone a lot, and the manager came up
and asked us where Wayne was. We explained the situation to him and the next thing we knew the waitress came up and told us the manager had paid for our dinner. Henry (always thinking ahead) said where can we go tomorrow nite and do the same thing.

Well, it got to be pretty late, so I went on home, planning to return to the hospital first t hing in the morning when about an hour later I got "t he call". Of course, guilt set in, but in my heart I knew I wasn't supposed to be there, and he was in the best hands, all the nurses who lovingly cared for him in his last days. Dr. Rohde later told me that after he had passed away, you couldn't find a nurse on the floor. Several attended his funeral service. dr. R said it was an honor and a privilege to have served as his doctor. He made dying dignified.

Thanksgiving was courtesy of K-Mart that year. They had donated all the food to the hospital, and Rev Box (Ray) had thought of us.

Yes, truly a bittersweet time, sadly missing all our loved ones who have gone on ahead, but loving the ones who are still around to love. Count your blessings and and hug those close to you

HAPPY THANKSGIVING