November 24, 2015
Happy Thanksgiving to my family and to all my friends and colleagues as well as those of you whom I have never met!
I wanted to share with everyone how truly thankful I am for so many things in my life. This is an easy post for me to write because this is something I have thought about almost every single day I have been here. One of the great lessons I have learned on this journey is that thinking about and feeling how grateful I am is something I can do every day and it's something that has sustained me. Also, I take care to be thankful within myself and not for how things are in my life compared to other people.
First, I am so very grateful to have a true partner on every level in my husband, Ken. I am thankful for our unconditional love for each other, our complete trust in each other to do what's best for each other's hearts and how we have always had each other's backs. Having him in my heart and my mind every day is what gets me through. I love you, Mr. Ken!!
I am also incredibly thankful for my family. They could not be more supportive and wonderful. My Mom and Les, PANDA (my brother Paul, nephew Aaron, sister-in-law Nicole and niece Danielle Applegate!) and my younger brother Steve and sister-in-law Angela. In particular, over the past year my Mom has been amazing. I appreciate all she does as well as the opportunity we have had to take our relationship to a new level. That has brought me great joy!
I am so grateful to all the people who have made the trip up (or down) here to visit me! Visits are the BEST and they sustain me for days and even weeks afterwards. Mom and Les and Paul and Nicole have visited almost every month and that has been so helpful. And I have loved it when Dani and Aaron could join as well. And thank you bro Steve (all the way from Seattle!), Lisa and Gary, Vicki, Chris, Suzie, Mur, Mike and Mark, Audrey, Ron and Liz, Maria and Carol, Chad and of course my Mr. Ken! If only Tito Puente could visit!
Thank you to everyone who has sent me a letter, email, card or book. I truly treasure each and every one of them. Often they lift me up. Sometimes they make me cry (that's OK!). And they always seem to come at just the right time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!
A special thank you to those of you have become wonderful, regular pen pals - either electronically or via snail mail. I never expected this and would never have guessed which people would end up doing this. Thank you for allowing me to dig deep into my experience here and for giving me the opportunity to get to know each of you better!
I am also very thankful for the many kind and generous people here at Taft. Every smile, every "how are you doing?" is greatly appreciated. I appreciate the support and the knowledge I have gained from many of you.
Finally, all of this amazing support I have had has given me an incredible opportunity to reflect on who I am, how I got to where I am in life and, most importantly, who I want to be and where I want to go moving forward. It's been a somewhat painful but mostly enlightening process and I feel very good about it. And I am thankful that I have learned the importance of this type of reflection - not only on Thanksgiving Day but on a routine basis.
Enjoy your turkey (or vegetarian alternative) and enjoy the many blessings you have!
With love,
David
