Thankful Thursday

Is it me - or are these weeks flying past with increasing speed?
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What am I grateful for this week?

* that the surgery is finally behind me

* that healing is happening

* for Trader Joe's crunchy curls made from lentils and potatoes (find them in the snack aisle!)

* for the pain-relief provided by Advil (during the day), hydrocodone (at bedtime), and morphine (when I was in the hospital)

* for the blessed gift of deep sleep

* the gentle comfort of a warm shower

* the guttural giggles of a six-month old beautiful baby boy

* the generosity and laughter of his even more beautiful mother

* the appearance of a hummingbird at the door during their visit yesterday - even though I don't have a hummingbird feeder, that beautiful creature hovered near the glass door in our family room long enough for both Heather and me to see it.

* when taking a risk, keeping copious notes, and hours of hard work writing and rewriting
turn into a new book (I knew you could do it, Launa - and I knew you would!)

* how much my friends, seen and unseen, have sustained and strengthened me on this kanswer journey

* for how often my dear friends keep telling me to rest, to stay in bed, to take naps -
and all I want to do is get up and do stuff

* for the two friends who circled around in my neighborhood for an hour, lost, hoping to come visit me. I am grateful for their determination to find me - even though they had the wrong phone number and couldn't reach me to ask for directions

* for the attentive, tender, loving, and compassionate care my husband and chidren have given me since November 6 (diagnosis day) but especially in this post-surgical week

* for the ways in which we still find reasons to laugh

* for the blessing of my husband's employment which comes with medical insurance. Chemotherapy alone would have cost us more than $120,000. I know we've paid far more than that in medical plan deductions over the past 25 years, but we couldn't have laid out that much in the past five months!

* for the advent of spring weather

* hair, short, stubbly hair!