LIFE AT 61 - THANKS-LIVING

YES you read the title right!  I know today is THANKSGIVING but if you think about things, we should be LIVING thankfully!  I'll go into some details in a moment.  In the meantime, HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all of you who have read my posts for the last 10 months, and to all my friends and family who have been reading as well.

As I said when I 1st started writing these blogs, I have found it very therapeutic and a way of keeping everyone updated on my health and status of this illness.  Well the illness is gone, and of course Im extremely thankful for that.

OK WHY THANKS-LIVING.  This is a term I heard some years ago from a Pastor during a sermon.  It sounded strange then, probably because I was a teenager, yes I can remember that long ago.  LOL  (Cant remember what happened yesterday sometimes, but yeah years ago is like a brilliant light.

I never really paid much attention to living the THANKS-LIVING way, until this year.  Oh Ive always been thankful for the life I had.  I've never been rich, but I've always had plenty.  Ive been blessed with an incredible daughter and a wonderful wife.  Ive been blessed with a business that has provided when I needed it the most.  So why did not live the THANKS-LIVING way?  I guess because even though I was thankful, I just did not tell people about it.

You can translate the term THANKS-LIVING to THANKFUL LIVING.  Giving thanks everyday for life, for waking up on the green side of the grass, for what you have, and even what you dont have.  Yes I said that right, give thanks for what you DONT have.  If you dont have it, perhaps, even though, you might want it, you really dont NEED it.  I might WANT a lot of money, it would sure make things easier at time, but I really dont NEED it.  I might want a new SUV or a CORVETTE, but I dont NEED either one.  (Corvette is really just a dream.)  Ive owned an SUV, nice but horrible gas mileage.

So this year has been WAAAAAY different than any Ive experienced.  If you have been following this blog at all you know what Ive gone thru with the cancer thing and treatments and Gods healing.  If you have not been following, shame on you!!  LOL, actually you can go and read all of them.  Im so very thankful that God chose me to heal.  WHY?  I really dont have an answer to that question.  I just know that from the moment of the real diagnosis, I never one time doubted that God would do it.  That brings me to the word FAITH.  Im very thankful for FAITH.  Without it no doubt, I would still be dealing with a disease that has some many complications and ill effects, I would probably be wanting to die.  As it is, Im LIVING THANKFULLY!

Ive had the opportunity over the last few months to make contact with others who have had cancer.  Ive met others who have had family members with the disease.  Ive been able to talk to these people and connect on a level that I never would have, had I not had cancer.  Ive been able to relate, somewhat, with their treatments, though NOT ALL cancer receives the same treatment.  We've compared scars where we had ports, (I still have mine, kinda like it, makes drawing blood quite easy and painless).  We talked about different doctors, even discovered that a couple of us had the same doctor or received treatments at the same place, and even at the same time, though we had never met.  Ive had the opportunity to talk face to face with people who are angry because they feel that this disease "destroyed" their life.  NOT TRUE is what I told them.  They still have life.  YES they might have scars, or need some reconstruction, but they are still ALIVE.  They can still walk and talk and function pretty much normally.  SCARS are totally OK.  No need to hide them.

Im thankful that as recently as July and August, I could hardly walk thru SAMS or COSTCO, in fact I resorted to using the little motorized cart.  Just absolutely did not have the strength.  NOW Im able to ride my bike again, miles and miles.  Im able to workout at the Y.  Im able to take cycling classes  at the Y.  Im able to hike thru the woods and climb hills and walk up steps.  So you see, I very thankful for the ability to do this.  God really kinda knew what HE was doing when he made the human body.  Its able to recover from almost total destruction, and come back and function.  Chemo and radiation pretty much destroy everything it touches, which is what it is supposed to do, it destroys the cancer cells and unfortunately everything else around them.  :)

Im thankful for the friends I have at church and literally around this country and around the world, who so faithfully prayed for my healing.  IT WORKED!!  Most of these people have never met me, yet they prayed because they were asked to.  Pretty amazing.

Im thankful for excellent health that I have right now.  So many that have gone thru treatments, are still struggling with theirs, Ive only got to deal with a dry mouth, and that is nothing compared to so many others.  So YES Im even thankful for the dry mouth.

Im thankful for taste.  I had the opportunity the other night to chat with a friend who reminded me of his mother who in the 60's had a tumor removed from the back of her tongue and lost all of her taste.  She went on to live almost 40 more years with NO taste.  I can only imagine how awful that would be.  I lost my taste for a couple of months, I would not want to go thru the rest of my life without it.  God did indeed have mercy on me.  I cant imagine having to eat really good food without being able to taste it.  UGH!  :(

Im thankful for a VOICE.  I have a voice.  There was a good chance, had the doctors had their way, I would not have a voice.  Sometimes it is a bit raspy, sometimes it is clear, but ALL the time it is VERY low.  :)  Ive always loved to sing, and Ive always been able to sing Tenor AND Bass, now it is strictly bass.  A very low bass.  Kind of a J.D. Sumner bass.  (Google his name if you dont know who he is).  But you know, I have a voice, and its fun singing, and speaking in that very low tone of a Barry White style.  :)

In short, Im LIVING THANKFULLY!  Think about your life and just imagine if you did not have what you have and then be thankful.  Today is a day of giving thanks.  Make everyday a day of giving thanks.  Make  it a day of THANKS-LIVING!