LIFE AT 61 - THANKSGIVING

I know that it is not quite Thanksgiving just yet, but I thought I would write about some things Im thankful for.  This has been quite the year!  I guess that is putting it mildly for those of you who have been following my journey, but yes interesting is a good way of putting it.

This journey as most of you know, started shortly after the 1st of the year, so really its going on 11 months.  WOW how time has flown by.  I wont be mentioning any real names with probably the exception of my immediate family.  I dont have permission to mention names of people and without that it would not be right.

Im thankful first and foremost for the healing that I have been given.  I know that the Dr's would love to take all the credit, and honestly they probably do deserve some, but I know that God was the one who created the healing in my body and that is something I will be forever grateful for.  Im also thankful for my family.  My wife Renita, and my daughter Renita Michelle, and her husband Stephen.  Without the support that I have received from them, this journey would have quite likely been very dismal.  In fact, Im not sure I would have been able to make it, and not sure I would have wanted to.  I have made some new friends along the way.

Im very thankful for friends, both old and new.  Here are a few that I wanted to mention.

One of the friends is my friend's mother.  S's mother, P, had a very serious cancer in her mouth.  This woman is in her 70's and just as spry and alert as can be.  Yet she has gone thru literal hell with her treatments.  She did the same radiation treatment I did, 35 treatments to her head and neck area.  HOWVER she also had some radical surgery on her mouth area.  Yet thru all of this she is still upbeat, and raring to go.  How wonderful to have a friend like this.  Her daughter and son inlaw, (though a bit on the crazy side of life), are awesome friends to have as well.  They came to the hospital to greet me on my final day of radiation.  How awesome to have friends like that.  THANKS guys!

I have another friend, D, who has followed my blog, and we have gone bike riding together.  She just recently lost her father to this horrible disease.  It was all very fast and sudden, yet he was strong for his family to the very end.  How awesome that the family had him for many years and he was there for them as they were for him.  Im very thankful for friends like D.  She has been an encourager, even thru the pain she was going thru.  THANKS for being and encourager

Ive made some new friends thru the Y, and the LIVESTRONG class that I have been taking.  For those of you who dont know what that is, it is a class sponsored by the LIVESTRONG foundation thru the YMCA and it is helping get the cancer patients and survivors and their caregivers back in shape.  AWESOME program.

To start, I have 2 trainers, they are incredible.  Im very thankful for both of them.  Incredible trainers, and they care about each of us in the class and they are both encouragers.  THANKS to both of them for caring and working with us.

One of my new friends, S, had Lymphoma in her throat.  Not quite what I had, but very serious.  She is  a survivor as well.  Awesome person and upbeat, and refuses to let this thing beat her.  THANKS for offering to come back after your classes were done, and coming to this class to encourage all of us.

T. is another one of the women in the class who has gone thru the cancer treatments for breast cancer.  She, along with me, rode her bike in the Pedal the cause bike ride.  THAT is awesome.  It was miserable that day, but she rode thru it and finished her ride.  AWESOME

Im thankful for all these new friends.  All of them are encouragers, survivors, and are strong people.  THAT is incredible to have friends like that.  Im sure that these friendships will last for a good long time.

Im thankful for my old friends.  Friends I have known for many years, some that I have stayed in contact with for a long time, and others that I just renewed friendship with recently on of all things FACEBOOK!!!  LOL  Some high school friends, some church friends, and other friends that we just seem to have been together for years.  The concern, prayers, words of hope and cheer, that is awesomeness!  Im thankful for my friends at church.  These people have been praying for me since this all started.  They are still praying for me, I know because they let me know from time to time.  I KNOW I would not be where I am were it not for the prayers given up by these people.  Some of these people do not even know me personally, they just have been praying for me because they were asked to.  My church here in St. Louis and all the prayer groups in it.  THANKS is not enough to say.

Lastly, there are people around the world, some that I know, most that I dont, who have been praying for me since this all started.  Im so very thankful them them as well.  I have friends around this great country from west to east and from north to south, that have been praying, and I cant begin to name them all, but they know who they are and Im so thankful for them as well.  Churches around the world that have prayed.  It is so incredible.

As you think about this time of year contemplating what you might be thankful for, remember that we still live in the greatest country in the world.  Remember that you still have the right to vote, whether it is for the Republicans or Democrats, or Independents.  EXERCISE that right.  Be thankful that you can still do that.  Be thankful for what you have, not down about what you dont have.  Enjoy the time you have with family and friends.