Thanksgiving & Losses

Yesterday was a day to be thankful....

Where do I start on what I am thankful for.

Four generations of woman in my family ... my mother - Shirley, me - Barb, my daughter -Sebrina, and my new granddaughter - Gabriella.

The opportunity to enjoy a wonderful turkey dinner with my daughter and her husband Mike and our four grandchildren. Great dinner Seb!

A little time with the boys, although they are starting to enjoy being outside with their friends a bit more than boring old mammy & Poppa. Although I miss their snuggles and hugs, their health and growth is something else to be thankful for. We still get snuggles and hugs - just not quite as much.

A sister I adore. She makes me laugh, she makes me cry, we enjoy having a big "Bloody Caesar" with a liberal dash of "medicine", she listens to my complaints, she listens to my brags, she's always there. And she always shares "pasta night" each Monday with Don & me. I love you Frannie!!!

My husband Don ... I am very thankful for the life he has given me, our beautiful home, our friendship.

I am thankful for my many friends, who I don't see often enough or tell them how important their friendship is to me and how much I love them.

Then a loss ....... we were only home from our feast for a couple of hours when we were called to the home of my brother-in-law John Weiss, who had just suffered a massive heart attack. He was only 65. John was gone within minutes, although much resuscitation efforts were expended by Durham EMS.

Many thanks to the Durham Police Force and Durham EMS for their efforts and the kindness they showed to Marilyn and the rest of us for this loss.

John was married for over 10 years to my sister Gina who passed away in 2005 after a lengthy battle with AML. As they lived very close to us, we maintained a close relationship with John. I also worked with him occasionally providing administrative support for his home based business.

John was one of the most gentle men I have ever known. He had a gusto for life that most of us can only dream of. He loved nothing better than going to the track to enjoy the horse races.

And dream ... oh how John loved to dream ... dreaming of winning the "big one", catching the "big one", finding that elusive supplement that would magically take off the weight he needed and wanted to lose or how to get rid of his diabetes. There was always some new business venture that he was trying which was the one that would make him his millions.

And, his food .... oh how John loved his food, he dreamed of publishing a cookbook and had been creating and collecting recipes for this book for years. He once told me he aspired to be a chef as a young man, but never realized that dream. John loved to have people over and just be in the kitchen cooking up a marvelous meal. His beef roulade, butter chicken, pork tenderloin, etc... were exquisite.

Recently John met Marilyn (see above with John) and they were planning on marrying this December 15th. Marilyn brought happiness back into John's life, he had a twinkle in his eye again and a sparkle in his step for the first time since going through almost 2 years of a terminal illness with my sister which lead to her eventual death.

So even though this is a devastating loss for us all, there is still thankfulness for the years that I had John in my life and the relationship that we shared. We spent many, many hours together when Gina was hospitalized working side by side, sharing a coffee, a chuckle here and there and lots of great conversation.

John was a collector of art and I feel privileged to have a few pieces hanging in my home as a constant reminder of John and our friendship.

John .... I will miss you deeply.