Thanksgiving 2013

Each year, on Thanksgiving, I write about what I’m thankful for.

So rather than keep repeating myself, I’ll let you read what I had to say last year, to which I’ll provide a bit of an update.

Of course, I continue to remain thankful for friends and family, for my home, my work, and for my own health. When it comes to health, I do have to mention that, while we were very optimistic last Thanksgiving, in early 2013, they found a recurrence of my husband’s Cancer Number Two, for which Jim has been treated throughout 2013.

During that treatment – ongoing chemo – Jim was well enough that we were able to enjoy two excellent trips to his favorite place on earth, NYC, including a glorious trip the last week of September, when the weather could not have been better and we were able to take long walks every day. (We even had a fun “celebrity” spotting: Sylvester Stallone’s mother Jackie, dining at L’Absinthe. Not quite as interesting as our July meet-up with Gloria Steinem, but pretty much right up there with last year’s LOL sighting of Jackie Mason.)

A week after our return from NYC, we found ourselves in an ambulance on our way to the Mass General ER, where they discovered that Cancer Number Two had metastasized to Jim’s brain.

The next day brought surgery – successful – and radiation, which causes extreme exhaustion, but which should put the kibosh on further brain mets.

We do not yet know what all this means.

We remain hopeful, but both weary and wary.

Still, when we received the initial diagnosis for Cancer Number Two in late December 2011, we would have given anything for a couple more years. Which we’ve gotten.

Thus, I remain thankful for the wonderful doctors, nurses, radiology folks, and admins/receptionists at Mass General Hospital. Thank you Panos, Rana, Chris, Becca, Kelly, Kevin, Helen, Connie, Kristin, David, Ariel, Lynn, Pam, John, Mohammeda, Abe, Jason, Janice, Ebony and the many others who’ve brought us help and comfort over the last couple of years.

I’d also like to do my annual shout out to St. Francis House, which has been helping Boston’s poor and homeless rebuild their lives for over 25 years now. If you have reason to be thankful this Thanksgiving Day, please consider a donation.

Finally, I’m including a link to Linda Tirado’s excellent Huffington Post essay on being poor: Why Poor People’s Bad Decisions Make Perfect Sense.

For those of us inclined to ask ourselves why they don’t just stop doing self-defeating stuff and behave more like us, this may be an eye-opening read.

One that makes me very thankful that I have absolutely zero experience being poor. (Being a “struggling student” really and truly does not count.)

Happy Thanksgiving!