Turkey Day Update

Overall, we had a pretty good T-Day. Drove down to my parents and Mom put on quite the lunch as always. We hung out for a while and continued with dessert and before we knew it, it was time to go over to one of my aunt's house. Could we possibly eat another feast of food? You betcha!

The saddest part of going to my aunts was seeing a cousin of mine. I have mentioned her to a few of you in the past. She is just a handful of years older than me, has an adopted son who is now 8 and is just an all around wonderful person. A few years ago, she was diagnosed with cancer in her stomach and esophogus. Although her prognosis was dismal, she has far outlived their initial predictions.

I had not seen her since the holidays last year and I had heard she was not doing well. I was not prepared to see her yesterday. She was always a big girl, and the little frail person I saw yesterday didn't even resemble her. I told S on the drive home that you could see that her "light" was going out. She has always been an upbeat person, and through all of this she has been able to laugh and joke. Yesterday all I saw was a tired person who seems like she is ready to end this battle. From what I could see, she is barely eating and drinking, so my feeling is the end is somewhat close. I can't fathom what this is doing to her husband and her mother, both who are taking such wonderful care of her.

As I write this, there are tears in my eyes. I am so sad for her and I admire her courage that she has shown along the way. It makes so many other things in life seem so trivial.