| p>Gratitude is the gift that keeps on giving. Today | | | | has since lived with around-the-clock aides. Words are |
| entered with a glorious full moon, a moon full of | | | | mere representations of feelings and perceptions, |
| gratitude. Today I am filled with gratitude, bursting as | | | | and yet how else can I describe my joy in still having |
| my stomach is likely to do this evening. Today | | | | my mom? |
| gratitude overflows from the cornucopia that | | | | I can describe that my back straightens up, my chest |
| traditionally graces the meal-laden table where family | | | | expands, my heart feels bathed in a warm blanket, |
| and friends gather. | | | | and that sometimes my eyes tear up as I see mom |
| Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because I find it | | | | working to regain some of her functioning. Mom |
| so spiritual. For more than a decade, I have given | | | | believes she's a coward. She is anything but. She is a |
| thanks daily for the good and the not so good, the | | | | brave, courageous woman who lived through and |
| easy and the not so easy, the beautiful and the less | | | | escaped from Holocaust Germany and who has |
| than beautiful. On Thanksgiving I reflect, record, and | | | | made a full life for herself since my dad's sudden |
| avow aloud my appreciation for everything in my life, | | | | death almost 22 years ago. I am so grateful and |
| and I extend gratitude for being in my life to family, | | | | blessed to be able to still learn from her. My |
| friends, colleagues, and clients. | | | | admiration for her grows. |
| Today is my best Thanksgiving because I have been | | | | Once mom was back in her home, her primary aide, |
| a participant in and witness to my mom's turnaround | | | | her children, and the people at the day enrichment |
| in well-being since last year. Thanksgiving 2006 found | | | | program she attends three half-days each week |
| my mom in the hospital, where she had been for | | | | slowly re-introduced her to parts of her life. I have |
| two weeks and was to remain until December 1. | | | | visited her once a month, sometimes for more than |
| During her stay, we learned little about any specifics | | | | a week, once for only one day, and call her |
| of her condition, other than slight dementia. Until | | | | everyday, regardless of where in the world I am. I |
| shortly before my two brothers and I arranged for | | | | am filled with gratitude each time I see her and each |
| mom to be admitted, our then 83-year-old mom was | | | | night when we speak. As she once did when we |
| high functioning, taking college courses and | | | | were small and tucked us in, I now give her a |
| complaining about her weekly homework | | | | blessing each night once she is in bed. I am blessed |
| assignments. | | | | to be able to do so. |
| On Labor Day 2006, she fell on her back on the | | | | Last April mom began taking a memory enhancer, |
| concrete driveway. Soon after, she began having | | | | which has helped. In June and July she was back in |
| difficulty maintaining her quadruple entry bookkeeping | | | | the hospital, this time for kyphoplasty surgery to help |
| system, became highly agitated with most everything | | | | relieve her back pain. Neither procedure helped. Since |
| and was forgetting how to do simple everyday | | | | early October mom gets a daily shot to strengthen |
| activities. She did not know if she had been married | | | | her spine, and the shots seem to make a positive |
| or remember the names of her daughters-in law or | | | | difference. |
| grandchildren. Mom said she was in ever-present | | | | Today she walks with one cane and has resumed |
| excruciating pain. Her pain did not respond to any | | | | attending bible study once a week. A former |
| physical or pharmaceutical treatment. She could barely | | | | fabulous ballroom dancer, she signed up for and has |
| walk and wanted to die. | | | | taken her first dancing lesson (5-minute session only |
| So many lessons from this past year come to mind | | | | with instructor holding her upright through each step), |
| as I honor my mom today. This past year I devoted | | | | although she doesn't remember that she once loved |
| myself to her well-being (managing her care and the | | | | to dance and how graceful she was. Her sense of |
| facilities) and to completing and publishing a book. I | | | | humor has returned, and she comes out with some |
| earned no money, and I earned so much more than | | | | great lines-"I can't remember what I forgot." "Having |
| money. This was a banner year for psychic income. I | | | | Charles in my life makes things spicy." |
| have accrued more wealth this year than in past | | | | While she still has back pain and a decades old |
| years combined. Gratitude as a return on investment | | | | persistent cough, mom doesn't complain often, as |
| offers exponential growth. | | | | she once did, and she is satisfied. So what if she |
| Although I give thanks daily, I gained a new | | | | doesn't remember much. She remembers enough. In |
| understanding of gratitude both while mom was in | | | | mom's words, "I am enjoying my old age." For that |
| the hospital and since I brought her home, where she | | | | and so much more I am filled with gratitude. |