Thanksgivings Remembered

I've never thought of Thanksgiving as an important family holiday in my household. As a child, my parents and I watched the Macy's Day Parade on TV and then either spent the day at either set of my grandparents or everyone came to our house.

After I was married, the holiday feast sometimes rotated to our house. My children got in the habit of watching the parade also. As the kids grew older, Thanksgiving became a weekend to welcome my daughter home from college for a few short days. Dinner was often at one house, with the kids rushing off to a date's house for dessert. When my daughter moved out of state after college, it became a holiday with one less at the table. When my parents retired to South Carolina, it meant the end of sharing this holiday with them.

Snippets of past Thanksgivings rumble around in my brain - arguing over which is the best balloon in the parade - watching Miracle on 34th St. for the 100th time on TV - my grandpa, dad and uncle never missing the original King Kong - my preference for Mighty Joe Young on TV - my grandpa using the leftover cocktail sauce from the shrimp cocktail on his turkey (I do that too!) - the kids deciding who got to split the wishbone...

This year, this is the first holiday since my dad passed away two weeks ago. My mom is staying in New York with us until the weekend after Thanksgiving. My daughter is celebrating her first married Thanksgiving in Baltimore. My older son is spending the weekend in Vermont, skiing with his girlfriend's family. My younger son will accompany my mom and I to my godchild's house - this will be her first attempt at hosting the family event.

I realize today, Thanksgiving morning as I am writing this and everyone else is still asleep, that the most memorable Thanksgivings, in my mind, are all tied to breast cancer, but in a very good way.

November 1998: I had been diagnosed with breast cancer and had already undergone a umpectomy,wide excision, sentinel node biopsy and axillary dissection. I was scheduled for a mastectomy in early December. I ended up in the hospital the Monday before Thanksgiving with full blown cellulitis. My parents were frantic in South Carolina and my daughter was arriving home from college. The kids ended up going to my cousin's for dinner and visited me for dessert. I work in a hospital. The clinical staff in my department work shifts 24/7. Every holiday they prepare a meal and eat together in our department, Respiratory Care.

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