Happy Holidays in Muddling Through As Best I Can
- Nov. 23, 2016, 2:36 p.m.
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- Public
With the holidays here, I wanted to share this. It was written by my dear friend Arlene. For 35 years, she has been a source of wisdom and eloquence,
“I was gushing with gratitude that Thanksgiving, surrounded with family in the same room my father built nearly 40 years before. It had hosted holiday gatherings that grew larger and happier each year as new in-laws and grandchildren joined our circle. That year we were celebrating new additions to the family and news that my husband’s cancer diagnosis was in remission. As he said grace that afternoon I remembered how the doctors, eight months prior, had predicted he only had a few weeks to live. He beat the odds and the future looked sunny, and back on track.
By next Thanksgiving “the odds” had returned to take their revenge. I left him in a quiet dark hospital room fighting for his life while I spent a couple of hours at home with the family. As my father said grace that year, we were hoping against hope for another reprieve. I cried all the way back to the hospital.
The next year our hearts ached. It was the first Thanksgiving that someone was forever missing from our table. We didn’t know that our last “all together Thanksgiving” was happening when it happened. And I’m glad we didn’t. Four years later we started asking the sons-in-law to say grace because my dad had moved to Heaven as well.
I’m not bringing all of this to mind just to jerk a few tears in an already emotionally loaded season. I just hope to remind everyone that we don’t get the privilege of knowing which time is the last time. If you are blessed to gather around a holiday table (or the TV) with loved ones, don’t let petty things like political differences, an argument over who gets Aunt Dehlia’s silver when she’s gone, or who gets the last drumstick ruin the day. If, God forbid, it becomes a “last memory” at least make sure it is a beautiful one. Life is unpredictable, love deliberately.”
Feel free to “share”. Please include © Arlene Fields 2016
I need tea. ⋅ November 24, 2016
Xxxx