Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving Day today.  I have so much to be thankful this year.  First and foremost, I am alive and able to celebrate with my family.

I spent the weekend in Michigan watching my son play more baseball.  The drive through Ontario and into Michigan was beautiful.  The trees are changing colours and the views all along the highway reminded me of a patchwork quilt.  The trees were a mix of greens, yellows, rust colours, dull oranges, bright oranges and briilliant reds.  It was a cold weekend but I had packed lots of warm clothes and as a result was quite comfortable sitting at the ball fields watching the team play Fall baseball.  The team had 3 losses and 1 win.  My son was the starting pitcher and winning pitcher in the winning game.  He pitched 4 innings and left the game with the score at 6-0.  My son always has to be at the field one hour before game time.  Yesterday we dropped him off at the field and went into the nearest town to get some gas and some grocery items.  We discovered that the road the ball field was located on showed up on the main road into the village (this was not the way we had travelled to get there).  So on our way back to the ball field, we turned onto this road.  It ended up being an absolutely gorgeous drive.  It was a narrow road that twisted and curved underneath mature maple trees.  As we drove along, the trees arched overtop of road just like a rural painting.  The colours were magnificent and it was a very peaceful setting.

The fall colours and the beautiful countryside brought up childhood memories of playing at my grandparents' farm during Thanksgiving weekends.  It would be crisp and cold just like this past weekend and then we would go into the farm kitchen where the turkey would be roasting and the various pies (apple, pumpkin, strawberry/rhubarb, etc) would be warming.  The memories of the warmth and the smell of the turkey, turnip, gravy and mashed potatoes are able to make my mouth water even today.   I am so glad to be alive to experience the crisp coldness this past weekend but more importantly to make more memories with my family.

So although there are still challenges, worries and anxieties in life, I can celebrate that I am alive and that the lymphoma is in remission.