A Day of Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day in Canada. Back home with my family that means a big family reunion with lots of food. There are about 50 of us on my mom’s side of the family – grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and spouses.

Beth and I don’t do too much on our own. We had a nice meal and I had pumpkin pie. Beth can’t stand the stuff. I don’t eat any vegetables from the squash family as a rule – but pumpkin pie is the exception – all those spices I taste – cinnamon, nutmeg… Yum. I know, most of the British readers are in agreement with Beth. When we were in Wales, I had the hardest time trying to convince people to try it.

In honour of the day, I wanted to take some time to say how much all of you mean to me.

Financially speaking, it has been a struggle for me to keep on top of things, and as Beth has mentioned in previous blogs, I can get anxious about it. When I set up the paypal account on several readers’ request, I did not imagine the response I would receive. Your donations help me not fear all the time how I’m going to pay for big ticket medical items.

Physically and emotionally, I don’t know what I’d do without Cheryl. It is hard to believe we only got to know her earlier this year. It seems like she’s been part of the family for a lot longer. She helps decipher medical related stuff and provide emotional support to both me and Beth. She’s taken her commitment to family very seriously – and she’s more family than any of the family Beth and I both have. She’s also a lot of fun and I enjoy spending time with her whenever we can. She’s also staying over while I’m out of town Thursday and Friday so that Beth is not alone. (Hint: These would be great days to drop Beth a personal email so she doesn’t feel isolated.)

And then there’s Lene who calls Beth every week to chat. They cover a lot of ground in their long phone calls and solve all the injustices of the world. I know when Beth is talking to either Lene or Cheryl to apply the oxygen because the more she talks the more her oxygen saturation levels drop.

And there’s Laura who writes us every day and does searching online for us. And I can’t forget the T-shirts. She also bought us an ambu-bag in case Beth stops breathing and I’ve had to use it a couple of times.

And then there are all of you who read Screw Bronze. Some of you lurk (technically I do too as I don’t say much on her blog) but she knows you’re there because she checks the number of hits most days. She also gets concerned when the numbers go down.

Then there are those of you who comment infrequently and a dedicated 10-20 who comment religiously. For all of you, you are what keeps Beth writing day after day. You support her when she’s down, you respect her thoughts on dying, and you get angry for the injustices that are done to her. And woe-betide the anonymous commentor who hurt Beth and/or the disabled community at large. You’re there to put him in line – but no vicious attacks please.

The other thing that keeps Beth going is her postcard project and the gift packages she sends out. She wants to make a difference in people’s lives – and I know she does as many have told her so. But if you’re one of those people who have received a card and haven’t responded, I urge you to do so. Send her an email, or better yet, return the favour and send a postcard back. Every weekend she looks forward to Cheryl’s arrival as Cheryl brings mail.

I must mention Wendryn here, who is absolutely amazing, as she has been sending a postcard every day to Beth for months. The other day Beth said she didn’t know what she’d do if there wasn’t a pile of postcards for her each week. It’s not an unreasonable fear as the amount of cards she receives each week has dwindled – last week there was Wendryn’s and one other person. It made her very sad.

I also wanted to thank all of you who have sent packages to Beth. She doesn’t send packages expecting anything in return, but boy does it make her happy when she receives one. I want to recognize SharonMV for her steady supply of beautiful stickers (which always garner favourable comments) and Robin for sending a box of Hello Kitty stuff including a Hello Kitty sticker book with hundreds of stickers. It was the mother load of stickers and that book goes with Beth wherever she happens to be writing postcards. Many of you have sent stuff for her to enjoy or for her to regift. One of the most surprising things was the box of Hello Kitty goth tape which was sent to us by Victor & Collette. Beth was speechless as she couldn’t find them anywhere on-line – and she’s a genius when it comes to on-line searches.

I take a lot of pleasure watching Beth open her gifts and read her postcards, it gives her so much joy and a happy Beth is a beautiful sight to see. She’s a little lacking in happiness these days. So thanks for sending what you have and if you are able to continue sending little surprises once in a while I’d be very grateful.

Finally, I just wanted to say that each of you are a gift to us. Thanks for being yourself.

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!