Death and Thanksgiving

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Friday my wife and I got news that one of our old friends had died. We
hadn’t seen him since he moved out to Oregon in the 90’s. He had cystic
fibrosis, and had originally been told he probably wouldn’t live past 10.
So, to have made it into his mid-40’s was doing pretty good. It’s probably
been 15 or so years since I last saw him, so his passing isn’t a big impact
to my life. But, it’s still sad he is no longer out there.

Wednesday my friend Alan’s grandmother died. She was in her 90’s and
hadn’t been doing very well lately. And, she had a chance to know her
children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren.
In my father’s family it was very unusual to live to see your
grandchildren. So, the idea of meeting great grand parents seems very
strange to me.

One of the guys where I work had his father die last Monday. He was out
all week dealing with that.

Tomorrow is the 3rd anniversary of my mother in law’s death. That year it
was the day after Thanksgiving, so I associate it with that even if the day
moves around.

Next week is the 19th anniversary of my mother’s mother dying. She and I
did not get along, so it isn’t exactly mourning.

In good news, my designer returned to work today after almost 2 months. He
had a bacterial infection that got to his heart and he needed the valve to
be replaced. I guess he had been told by his doctor just before this
diagnosis that he should “man up and stop complaining about having a cold”.
Good thing he got a second opinion or he’d be dead.
I’m glad he’s back.

Anyhow, this “Thanksgiving” time of year doesn’t invoke images of turkeys,
pilgrims or things like that for me. But, I am thankful. Thankful that
this year it wasn’t anyone closer to me is still thankful. Right?