Today my immediate family is gathering with my mom for a very special Thanksgiving celebration.  By that I mean 18 people….so I guess intimate is maybe not the right word to describe this coming together but nonetheless, it’s the whole family and I must say that for years I’ve said to people that we all live pathetically within a 10 mile radius of one another and ya know what? I am so grateful.

Today, the gentleman in the room adjacent to mom and his wife had a vow renewal ceremony earlier today and their whole family came out afterward at about the same time we were gathering. It got loud and crazy and we loved every minute!

I made a new friend today, his name is Wyatt. He is one of the 11 grand kids of the gentleman next to mom.  I think he must be about 6 years old. I introduced myself to him earlier in the day when there was only a couple of people here….he was so sweet. He kept seeking me out throughout the evening and before he left he came up to me and gave me a big hug and said “good bye, I’ll see you another day.” Yes, Wyatt, you will. Bless his heart.

We had the best time today and tonight! So much to be thankful for! We opted to have the meal catered. Anne picked up a full on traditional Thanksgiving dinner for 18 at Byerly’s last night and the staff here at the Hospice Home popped it all in the oven and heated it up for us. Let me tell you, Byerly’s puts on a spread and it was so deLICious! All the flavor, none of the work! Perfect solution for today….right down to the pumpkin & pecan pie! That way no one was stuck in the kitchen and we could all be with mom.

Anne and I both decided that we wanted a night with mom so the 2 of us are sleeping over tonight. A girls night. So fun. The staff just wheels in beds for us and tucks us in. It’s pretty special to be here at night and in the morning when she wakes. Alone time that we will treasure forever.

I pray that you all had as beautiful a day as my family and I had.

God Bless You.

This popular phrase, born in the 70′s, was used by my dad, in the 70′s….a LOT! Instead of the now more popular adjectives “Dork”, “Moron”, “Boob” or even one of my favorites, “Tool” I may return to “Turkey”…especially this week. Being that it’s the week leading up to Thanksgiving and most important I believe now more than ever in keeping one’s spirit alive by remembering, reminiscing & sharing with others. Why just last night, Gary and I were watching TV (CSI Miami…no judging please!), and I said “and the thick plottens” as the plot thickened…then I turned to Gary and I said “my mom would always say that!” 

This just in…I have just discovered that one of our local, main papers has announced that the (ever popular in my family) coloring contest “Oh, You Turkey” turned 30 last year! WOW!! Can’t wait for Thursday’s edition.

Everyone keeps asking…is there ANYthing we/I can do? And I continue to respond with, “Pray for my mom’s comfort daily, for the cancer to steer clear of her brain and for my family to remain as one throughout this horrid ordeal.

Friday afternoon my mom moved to the brand new Marie Steiner Kelting Hospice Home in Chaska, MN.  This facility (which we feel God built for our mom!) is aMAzing! I’ve written a little bit about it on her new Caring Bridge site that I just finished constructing yesterday so feel free to sign up there for updates.

This Hospice Home opened it’s doors a little over a month ago to it’s first resident. Mom is now the 3rd resident. I am telling you, it is so lovely and homey…a wonderful place to all come together to gather and celebrate. Our plan is to host Thanksgiving here on Thursday with the immediate family

Today many of us (including my mom’s sister Cindy & uncle Don) are watching the Vikings battle the Sea Hawks with mom!

My mom is resting across the room from me as I complete some editing and morph into blogging.  It is the eve of my mom’s 2 week milestone of being mostly flat on her back as she receives her 10 day radiation course and wrestles with the idea of cancer ravaging her 71 year young body. As her eldest daughter and middle child, I expected a longer life for my mom and a battle with lung cancer, emphysema or quite honestly & worse…both.

The other day, while we were here alone, she told me about a poem that she had written about her parents as they were aging and how difficult it was to witness them growing older & frail and how hard that was on her. She began to weep. I asked her if she still had that poem and she said “yes” and I asked if it was in her home in a dresser or somewhere that I could perhaps easily locate it and she said “yes”.

I went on to say….” I don’t get that opportunity. I don’t get to watch you “grow old”, my poem will be quite different.” She agreed.  No one asked for this. No one does. Why now? Why my mom? What is God trying to teach me? What am I to learn? I feel much wisdom and strength coming my way. It’s a pretty crappy pay off, if you ask me, to gain wisdom from your parent’s death, pretty crappy, indeed.

On to the title of this blog and it’s significance. Yesterday my mom experienced a “set back”, if you will.  She now has a new pathological fracture. The fracture is in her left humerus. We all knew this was probable. In all the moving around and transferring and re-positioning it was just a matter of time. So, as she was starting to actually feel much better from all the radiation and requiring WAY less medication, we now get to nurse another broken bone and get back on some “break through” pain meds.  :\  Now while this was possibly avoidable (no fault here!) this did buy her another day of receiving radiation while in the hospital which is a blessing. So we will remain here through her radiation treatment this Friday and then move to bigger and better things! God is good!

We had a nice quite day today. No visitors. My youngest brother, Mike, slept over last night. Anne hit the midday shift and I joined her in the room in time to take mom down for her 12:40 radiation appointment and spent the rest of the day with her here. Tim, my oldest brother, will take the final night shift tomorrow as we need to move forward. Several choices  to consider and while nothing is concrete at this time I’ll post again when I know more about a move to a more permanent location.

I can’t even begin to express the joy I get from being here with my mom. These are special days. Please keep her in your prayers as you go about your days and know that we are strong and steadfast in our resolve to provide my mom every bit of care and relief that we can. Your prayers are felt and embraced. Please feel free to comment as I am always reading them to my mom!