Tomorrow is Thanksgiving where I live. Like almost everyone else we know, we celebrate Thanksgiving with a big meal that we share with our family and friends as we talk about the things we are thankful for and the blessings of the past year. With a little football thrown in for good measure! (But who is measuring?!)Our elderly friend, Warren, always joins us for Thanksgiving. He lives alone and has never been married. He is an only child, and his cousins live far away, so he joins our family for holiday meals. He sits at the dining room table where he can watch the goings-on in the kitchen and chat with Barry about this or that. And Warren always brings the whipping cream -- real fresh whipping cream in a glass bottle from the local dairy!
Sometimes I am just in awe when I think of his courage. As a very young man, he went to fight for our country in World War II. He was a point man, a very dangerous thing for a soldier to be, and he was shot through the jaw. I look inside myself and I don't see that kind of courage. I remember the day I saw his green dress uniform hanging in his closet... with the Purple Heart...
In June, Warren fell and broke his leg, and even after surgery and physical therapy and lots of meds, his leg still got worse and worse. The doctors finally told him it was an aggressive sarcoma, and today -- the day before Thanksgiving -- they took off that whole leg along with some of the pelvis in an effort to stop the cancer. All these weeks, even with severe pain and fuzzy brain, he has not lost his will to fight. Or his appreciation for good food, something it seems he has been getting very little of!
I've been a bit weepy today. Barry has called me often from the hospital with updates. Warren is out of surgery and awake, the doctor said. As far as he can tell, he was able to remove all the cancerous tissue.
I can't believe tomorrow is really Thanksgiving Day! But thanksgiving is not just a day. It is a lifetime of choices made new every day. Choosing to be thankful.
I gave in and bought a little waxed box of whipping cream... Thanksgiving Day just won't be the same this year!
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. --I Thessalonians 5:16-18
7 comments:
Hi Jeanette!
I'm so sorry to read all this about Warren! I can't imagine going through what he has been through today! Funny -- I don't think of Warren as "elderly"! I guess the last time I saw him he must have been middle-aged and I was young! Tomorrow we shall be elderly!
Happy Thanksgiving to you guys! I hope a surprise bright spot comes along in the day -- not to take Warren's place but to keep it warm!
I would wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, too, if only you were celebrating it! :) There is so much to be thankful for. I wonder why it so often takes second place to the complaints??
Warren was born in 1926, and he will soon be 83. And we will be there tomorrow, C-A! :(
Barry is Warren's best friend and has spent countless hours back and forth to hospitals, rehabs, assisted living centers, etc. helping him take care of business matters, going to appointments, working out issues with staff, taking him things he needs, helping him go through his mail, pay bills, do banking, etc., etc. He has shown how excellent he is at calling doctors to tell them his concerns (if only they had listened to him earlier) and in general working out problems and getting along really well with the staff in each place. For anyone who is sick and in need of help, I would wish for them a friend like my hubby! And how is that for my Thanksgiving Day thanksgiving?!
I am sorry to learn of your friend's surgery and pray for a sure recovery. He is blessed to have you and you to have him.
Happy Thanksgiving my dear friend.
OH, how blessed you are to have someone like Warren in your life, and how blessed he is to have you! I'm glad they think they got all the cancer. I will pray for Warren in the days to come.
Happy Thanksgiving!
You better hope Barry has good balance -- he's standin' on the top rung of my ladder!
God bless you all at thanksgiving.
Feel so sorry to hear about the struggles of Warren. Barry has a real gift of service. God bless him.
People like Warren are heroes of faith.
Thanks for all your comments! And also for your prayers for Warren! He is doing amazingly well and has been moved out of ICU. Yesterday, the day after this huge surgery, he ate a big breakfast. I can't help but think that after all of this, I would probably have curled up and given up. I know my own wimpedness!
We owe so much to people like Warren who have given up the life they might have had so that we may live as freely as we choose...
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