It’s Thanksgiving tomorrow.  I haven’t been to class at all this week, though that’s not as bad as it sounds, since there were no classes scheduled today.  I did miss my classes on Monday and Tuesday though, as my husband was in the hospital.  We went into emergency on Saturday afternoon, only an hour before the BIG GAME (UM/Ohio St), so rather than spending a nice Saturday afternoon watching a game and eating steak from the grill, we listened to bits and pieces of it from the attending nurses.  And not eating steak.  Turns out they admitted him for observation, and then they wouldn’t give him back to me until Tuesday!

By Tuesday I was too sick to pick him up, probably the flu.  So we sent his brother to get him from the hospital.  The brother dropped him off at our front door and declined an invitation to come into the germ invested house.  That’s just as well as I was not up to entertaining.

I was supposed to fly to Atlanta today, but I wasn’t feeling well enough last night, so we changed the ticket and I leave tomorrow morning early enough to make it to my brother’s house for dinner at noon in Alabama.  I should get to bed, but I’ve been thinking about things to be thankful for.

We spent a good part of yesterday watching the tribute to Bo being held at The Big House (UM stadium).  I am thankful that I am past the kind of intense grief for my father that I saw on BO’s youngest son’s face.  It hurt to watch him speak, so I started doing laundry and only watched parts of his talk as I walked through the living room.

I am thankful I am not working, and I’m thankful I’m in school, and I’m thankful I have a spouse and family members that support me in that decision.

I’m thankful I can kid around on the phone with my brother who is trying to make Mom’s pumpkin cake alone down in Alabama tonight, when I was supposed to be there to make it for him.  He may become a baker yet!  I am thankful that my sister and her husband will pick me up at the Atlanta airport at 7:30 in the morning and drive me the two hours to the house of feasting.  Even if I have to sit in the back seat with their dog.  I am thankful my other brother and his wife are having Thanksgiving this year, a place for us all to be together.
I am thankful for the memories of family Thanksgivings in years past.  And for Mom’s receipes.  And her voice in my ear.  I think she’s laughing with us at Paul’s attempts to replicate her cake.  This year, for the first time in two years, we can laugh too.  And for that I’m incredibly thankful.

I’m thankful for tradition that holds us together.  And I’m thankful for the new experiences we will have as we learn to redefine the holiday season based on our new reality.

Most of all I’m thankful to all the people that have held out their arms and their hearts to us as we clawed our way back up to the sunshine, especially those that stuck it out for two years when it seemed like we would never see lightness in anything ever again.

Sometimes it hasn’t seemed true, but we are truly blessed.  And I am thankful.