Like most of you reading this post, I am just now recovering from a bit of a food coma brought on by the gluttonous indulgence that is Thanksgiving. What a great day. Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. For me, any day that is marked with delicious food, and almost no obligations other than to get along well with your extended family is a good one. I like it so much that I tend to extend thanksgiving over a few days. As much as I like getting together with family to consume the quintessential thanksgiving bird, I can't seem to shake the idea that it doesn't really count till I've made a turkey of my own. For the past few years, I've participated in my extended family thanksgiving festivities as well as having my own mini thanksgiving feast. Needless to say, my turkey consumption this weekend has been prodigious.
As I have participated in this week's festivities, I can't help but be reminded that I have a fair amount to be thankful for. I have a beautiful family, great friends, good job, and the luxury of having thanksgiving dinner two times in a week. It's pretty dang good to be me.
If you were to look at me now, you'd probably have no idea that just 12 months ago, I had a hyper aggressive tumor starting to grow inside me. I am incredibly lucky to have no long lasting effects from this most recent treatment. The first time I went through CODOX, I lost most of the feeling in my toes, and couldn't walk well for almost a year. This time, no residual effects other than a couple new interesting scars. For the most part, if a person were to meet me on the street they'd have absolutely no way of knowing the difficulty of the past year.
Even I do a good job at ignoring the difficulty of the past year. I think at times I am able to think of my stint with lymphoma as something that happened oh so long ago to a person very different than myself. There was sick Joe, and there is healthy Joe. Healthy Joe and Sick Joe don't talk very much.
I sometimes worry that Healthy Joe will forget some of the lessons that became very clear to Sick Joe. Sick Joe learned that there were very few things in this life that couldn't be overcome with the help of our Father in Heaven. Sick Joe learned to enjoy the amazing things in his life, and be grateful every day for life's tender mercies. No vomiting today? Reason to celebrate. Walked 5 laps around East 8? Have an extra serving of dessert, for today was a good day. Had to spend Christmas receiving methotrexate that mad you feel like the gum on the bottom of someones shoe? Could be worse, you could be spending it in a coma a couple floors down.
Sick Joe learned all of the amazing people he has in his life. From his amazing wife and companion who suffered much more than he, to the multitude of people praying for him, and helping him in whatever way they could.
Sick Joe learned to appreciate the fact that you might never be able to control what life has in store for you, but you always have the ability to control how you respond.
Sometimes it's hard for Healthy Joe to remember these lessons.
Today, my family and I were finishing thanksgiving dinner part 2. I had spent most of the day grilling a turkey, making substantial quantities of mashed potatoes, and preparing the dinner table for another thanksgiving meal. The food was satisfying, and the company was good. I was content.
As I looked over the counter top to see what we had for dessert, I noticed a pristine banana cream pie made by and given to us by a dear friend and neighbor. I think the last time I had a banana cream pie was just less than a year ago when it was one of the few foods that retained any appeal. I had been directed by my physicians that I eat whatever sounded good in an attempt to keep weight from dropping too low.
For reasons I don't quite understand, Banana Cream Pie was one of the few foods that always sounded good. There were day's where I'd have a slice of pie for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If I were to continue that habit, I'm sure it wouldn't be good for me, my wardrobe, or my waistline, so I stopped.
Tonight, I helped myself to a slice of banana cream pie, and it was delicious. With the taste, came a number of memories of those times when I ate more for the calories than I did for the taste. The lessons that were so clear to Sick Joe, became a little more clear to Healthy Joe as well.
I've always had much to be thankful for. I'm thankful that I'm well again. I'm thankful that I've been blessed so abundantly. I'm thankful for the ability to be healthy Joe again. I'm thankful for the lessons that sick Joe was able to learn, and I'm thankful for banana cream pie to make me remember those lessons on occasion.
