A Day of Hope

I hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving today. Hope. That is what we are expressing and feeling today as one of our loved ones was rushed to the hospital yesterday with breathing difficulties. He is 84, rigorous and full of life and political opinions.We've gone the rounds with respect and laughter. He has a pacemaker that has failed a couple of times but this time it was a fever and breathing, They admitted him and today did an ultra sound on his heart and found it infected. He will begin antibiotics, they said "for the rest of his life" which seems unusual to say and starting nebulizers (breathing treatments) every 3 hours all day today. Worries as that speeds the heart a lot. He expects to come home tomorrow but Melanie was there and is not certain it will happen.

Of course we have postponed Thanksgiving. He is the Patriarch of my daughter's in-laws. They took us under their wing when Dan and I lost his mom and dad, my dad and both foster parents within 3 years. We suddenly had no where to go and were planning a restaurant visit for that Turkey Day back in 2003 when Bev and Bill (Mel's in-laws) insisted we come over. Since then, every year we go there for Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve for dinner with their entire family, each whom has welcomed us and now treats us as if we truly were.  We are blessed.

We are hopeful this day. We are grateful for what we've been given. We pray for a special day of Thanksgiving this year that heals and returns Bill home.