It's a New Day

     Amy is having a pretty good day today.  The day after cutting all of her hair off and she's only rubbing her head about 5 times each hour.  She's off to find something softer to wear on her head - the wigs may look like regular hair but they obviously take some getting used to.

     So we started our day off the way normal people would who are knee deep into chemo, we went back to the Italian restaurant to make sure the fine food we ate yesterday wasn't just a fluke.  It wasn't.  We're stuffed.  I have plenty to take to work tonight and will probably throw out whatever I can't finish; after all, tomorrow is Thanksgiving!

     So what do we have to be thankful for?  Besides the fact that we have good jobs, insurance, plenty of food in the fridge, our boys are healthy (and spoiled), plenty of family and friends, I'd say we have a lot in way of blessings.  I know, we're sick.  We're looking at a year of treatment and five more of hormone therapy - so what?  There are so many things that could have taken us a long time ago and we were spared enough to still be here.  What is God's plan for us?  I know it's not to wallow in self pity and sit home waiting for the proverbial end.  We're going to praise him, every day.

     We're going to try to get up, every day, and do the best we can to get healthy.  We're going to love our family, and ourselves, and remind each other that we're not promised tomorrow, but we do have today.  My wife is hurting, but she's handling it with grace.  She may have cancer, but cancer definitely does not have her.  Amy told me about our 10 year old hugging her this morning and reassuring her that her hair would come back and not to worry about it.  She told him that it wasn't the cancer taking her hair, but the medicine to treat the tumor.  And that he is right, it will return one day and that she's fine.  Was my son so moved by his mom's current condition that he felt the need to comfort her, or was following the natural progression of a child hurting looking to comfort himself?  I am thankful for either, or both.  Thankful to have that experience; a mother and son holding each other for support.  To have our family together.  To have one more day to give thanks and to praise him.  What a great day!

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.  -   Albert Schweitzer