so very thankful.

Back in the day, when I blogged about life I used to write "observations and revelations". It was an easy way to share thoughts, random or otherwise. In the spirit of Red Shoes I'm going to now call them "knots and loose ends" or "heels and flats" or something creative like that. So I give you the first edition of Knots and Loose Ends/ Heels and Flats: Thanksgiving Edition.

A couple days before Thanksgiving Mom's oncologist gave her permission to stop taking the oral chemo in anticipation of a chemo transfusion this week. Don't have to tell her twice. She wasn't dizzy, she had energy, she was Mom. It was wonderful.

If you haven't watched your husband and brother lower a turkey, zip tied to a broom stick, into a fryer, you haven't lived.

If you haven't eaten the skin off a freshly fried turkey, you also haven't lived.

I was not vegan this weekend. I used up my 10% of my 90/10 rule for the month.

Our family has such a spirit. Such a magic energy. My brother and I trade jabs, the kids get in the way the perfect amount, all the pieces just come together when we are one. It's really magic. I wish we could bottle up Mom's portion of the magic. Save it to have forever.

Celery and onions should be purchased pre-chopped.

Pepperidge farm stuffing (one bag crushed, one cubed) is hands down the best there is when Mom makes it. Butter and poultry seasoning and butter and broth. The best.

If cranberry sauce doesn't have lines from the can, you're doing it wrong.

Thanksgiving Eve can and should be just as much fun as Thanksgiving. And it was. We prepped the dinner and laughed and took selfies and ate delicious food from an Italian market. It was perfect.

I'm taking videos now. Pictures too but videos help capture it all. Maybe even bottle up some of that Magic.

I anticipated Thanksgiving was going to be very hard. And it wasn't easy, but it was wonderful. I've decided you can't be sad about the unknown all of the time. You have to be happy for the present. Celebrate the here and the now. Because otherwise you will look back at the times when everyone was together, and you'll regret not celebrating those moments, etching those memories in stone, soaking in the magic. No one is promised tomorrow, cancer or not.

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