Thanksgiving...

"Thankful for?"


I know November is the time of year to be thankful for many things in your life. And a lot of people post something daily on facebook each day as to what they are thankful for.

I know it is difficult when you are dealing with several chronic illnesses. But we all must look to being thankful for the different things that healthy people are thankful for. I have been thinking about this some as the month goes by and as Thanksgiving gets closer. I have Gastroparesis along with many other multiple silent chronic illnesses. I am to the point I am not able to eat anything at all by mouth and so this upcoming Thanksgiving day with all the foods and trimmings is something I am going to have to face. This will not be easy. And I also feel very sad for my husband whom has had to change his way of life because of my GP.

So instead of sitting and being thankful for the bounty of food in front of us. We all must stop and think about what is it that we are truly thankful for? I have learned over the past several years to stop and look at life differently. Walking in our shoes, those of us with illnesses, is much different than if you walk in shoes of people whom are healthy. So as part of what we deal with daily if should be something that we strive to do on our part to make the people, friends and family aware of what our illnesses are.

So I have been giving thanks for the many little blessings that God has bestowed on me. Such as sunsets, sunrises, bonfires, butterflies, squirrels, my dog Maggie Mae, my kitty cat Ella, my husband (for being with me thru all of my health issues), my friends, my children, work (yep I am still able to work at this time), and many more little things we all must look for.

I know I have a set of guardian Angels whom watch over me daily, both of my parents have recently passed away. This has really sent my health into a downward spiral. I attempted suicide several days after my mother had passed away. I just simply wanted all the pain to stop. (Only people with chronic illnesses understand this). But God must not have wanted me up there yet, he must have a purpose for me here on earth. I feel like my purpose is to bring awareness to GP, COPD, Fibro, Bipolar, etc.

Because there are a lot of people that don't understand these different illnesses and so those of us dealing with these daily issues must help bring awareness to these issues. Of course everyone understands the big "C" word. And of course people who battle cancer don't always make it and some persevere and do. My father unfortunately was one who passed from cancer. So I am well aware of how hard it is to loose a loved one to cancer. But just as cancer is horrible so is all the other chronic illnesses that those of us have.

So what are you going to be thankful for this Thanksgiving? I am not going to be thankful for the food, but I am going to be thankful for my husband, my kids, my family and friends. I am going to look to God and my guardian Angels who carry me every day through all of my troubles. Even when at times I sit and craddle the toilet on bad days and the many ice packs I wear around my tube sight due to infections because at this time I am still alive. Yep, sometimes a very miserable life, but all of my loved ones want me to stick around.

So all of us chronic ill people, lets lift our glass of water, tea, vitamix drinks, smoothies, whatever it is you will partake of on Thanksgiving and give thanks to all of our loved ones for being by our sides during the good and the bad times because we are meant to still be here for some odd reason.

And my thoughts are is to stay out of Walmart, Kmart, Lowes, Menards and many more stores during Thanksgiving, because the holiday is not meant for shopping, it is meant for being thankful. And so if we stay with our loved ones then those that unfortunately have to work on Thanksgiving maybe, just maybe could spend time with their loved ones. And that is the most important thing. Our loved ones.

As a lyric comes to mind:

"It was just like a memory, It was just like a song, When we were young, and it makes us mad getting old."

I am hoping that these memories, songs and being young will help us from getting mad about getting old. Because we are not promised the ability to get older, it is a privledge to get older.

As always with love and thanks

Keep Smiling
Carla