Thanksgiving

Today is a day of celebration.

Four months ago today the critical care doctors in the ICU told me we were losing Parker. There was nothing else they could do, everything was failing.... I'll never forget the pinched look on Dr. Morrison's face when he said it, knowing he was serving up the worst kind of sentence any mother can bear. The loss of a child.

I prayed that day like I have never prayed before. I am not Catholic, but my sister-in-law emailed me a copy of a prayer to St. Jude, the Saint of Lost Causes. She had used it before herself. I kept that prayer up on my computer screen all day, praying, pushing the tormenting, horrific thoughts from my mind ... thoughts like what would I be doing four months down the road if Parker died? Pushing those thoughts out of my head was some of the hardest work I have ever done in my life.

I prayed for Parker to hold on until his brother, James, arrived that night. Somehow I knew if he could hold on, if he could hear his brother's voice, it would make a difference. If Parker knew we were all there, gathered around him, he might do the impossible. He might live.

And I'll be darned. He did. He lived.

And so today we are celebrating. How? Well this morning we did a very ordinary thing. We took his new dog, Quinn, for a vet check up. She passed with flying colors. Then we did another ordinary thing. We came home, made lunch, watched tennis on tv, and took naps. We are not going to the fitness center today because just the trip to the vet's office sapped every bit of energy Parker had.

But later we will go pick up his medicine at the pharmacy, and I am cooking a Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, low fat stuffing, cranberries, the works ~ new diet style. And at the end of the day, I will hug my big grown up son, I will call my other grown up son, tell them both how much I love them, and then I will sleep well, thanking God for His gift.

How will you celebrate this day?