Thanks

My daughter-in-law Dorothy is pregnant. You may remember that she is Carmen's mother. She and Reed decided that another baby would help mend their hearts, so this little one is due in January. But last Monday Dorothy was cramping and bleeding so I told her I would come on Tuesday and be her slave for a day so she could rest and get things settled down with her very pregnant body. So that's what I did. The four boys were engaged in a Harry Potter video marathon when I arrived. Vincent was sick and had thrown up. I cleaned up some of that mess and generally straightened things up. I also looked after their foster son, Eric, a cute little toddler. Dorothy slept while I did her grocery shopping. I left for home in the afternoon, feeling good about doing something good.

By Wednesday night I realized that Vincent had kindly passed his sickness on to me! Can you imagine my disappointment in awakening on Thanksgiving day with visions of throwing up instead of turkey? In fact, the thoughts of the turkey brought on major nausea. My darling husband kept me tucked in bed while he finished our Thanksgiving preparations and assisted our downstairs family in serving it up. And so the party went on without me. What luck to be sick on the very day when feasting is in order. How unfair! By evening I could feel myself rallying. Friday morning found me feeling almost normal and by Saturday it was as if nothing had happened. Thank goodness for left-overs.

The picture above shows Layne at work on our Thanksgiving menu. Below him Isaiah is passing by me with his celebratory dessert. You can see my red toes at the bottom of the picture.

There is not much good to say about being sick. But one good thing I can say, in hindsight, is that I am so grateful to feel good, to be healthy, to have energy for living! Why is it that losing something raises its value? Why can I not be just as grateful for those things which I always have and enjoy? I am working on perfecting my sense of gratitude, as I find it is, for me, a key to happiness.