Thanksgiving

Another Thanksgiving day has rolled around and due to the prompting, I have been thinking of what I am grateful for.  This holiday, this month. for me is all about my grandmother Lucille Violette Audet.  I do not know who said it first, but someone said that a woman's true power in the home, is the power to set the tone.  I do not know what my grandmother would say about this but she set a tone in my life that has created a safe, warm childhood nest feeling which influences my every thought about how holidays in general, and Thanksgiving Day in particular, should be celebrated.  Holiday decoration, excellent food as with as many of your family as you can fit in your home, to be exact.

My Grandmother is a fine woman and the finest example, in my opinion, of what a real grandmother is.  To my knowledge she has no tattoos, no substance abuse issues, and has never been arrested.  She is a woman who commands respect.  There is an order to how things are done in her home, in her cooking, and on holidays and she is a woman who conducts herself with dignity and respect.  She loves us in her quiet way and demonstrates that love with her cooking, her presence, and her legacy.

Mom and I were talking today about families and Thanksgiving and it seems that the cornerstone for a lot of people is the stuffing or dressing for the turkey.  My grandmother's pork stuffing is the only stuffing for me because anything else is just not a family celebration.  So many of my holiday celebrations and my grandmother's cooking are completely intertwined but the tone she set branches out much deeper and wide than food. (Though Christmas is coming and I remember fondly her holiday tin of fudge and other treats.)

For example, my grandmother was not content to watch us play and sit on the sidelines.  My grandmother would suit up and swim with us.  Sometimes, she would sun herself while we splashed around but she was right in the mix.  Every year she would throw a New Year's skating party at camp and she would ice skate with us.  Then she would make enough hot cocoa with marshmellows for an army.  My grandfather is amazing too but I dont think about him in November...that is reserved for her.

I am sad on the days when I don't get to emulate and live out this rich legacy due to fatigue or pain. I am working hard to overcome cancer so that I may live the life I have dreamt of.  Somedays, this fully encompasses my energy and I have no energy left. What I have, though, even on those days is a heart filled with hope that God will heal me.  My earnest prayer is that I can be the sort of woman that my grandmother is and my parents are.  I believe I can accomplish this, especially as I am lifted by all the prayer and generosity that is constantly added into my life by those of you who love me.  I love you back.

Susan