Thanksgiving

I've been laid up the past few days (103° fever Sunday night, erysipelas around my right calf & foot which made walking something to avoid), and Diana has sciatica, so it's a good thing that Josh was here to cook for us and that we weren't planning on traveling.

And Josh did indeed cook. Turkey with a homemade wild rice stuffing, golden mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry orange relish. Mom and Dad were at a clinic in Tappahannock and came down for the day; Mom provided rolls and a pound cake. Add ice cream, raspberries and blackberries for dessert. Plus special additions for me, amoxicillin and acetaminophen.

What am I thankful for? "Being sick" has mostly involved "laying in bed and reading"; I haven't had to scrape together my last few dollars for medicine, I'm still getting paid, I haven't missed anything major. It was an inconvenience, really nothing more.

Our son is here, not lugging 80 pounds of gear around a desert filled with unpleasant natives. Nobody is dropping missiles on us, or rioting around us. We have electricity; some of the people in the New York / New Jersey area are still in the dark, more than three weeks after Hurricane Sandy. We haven't been affected by the post-election layoff notices. We're on good terms with all our relatives. I don't have a Christmas wish list because if I wanted something, I could already have bought it myself.

Mom and Dad told about some of the people in Zambia. The gardener whose wife was in labor, so he brought her to the hospital--by putting her on a bicycle and pushing it, for miles, through deep sandy roads. The thirteen year old girl whose grandmother left her on her own, with one dollar and a promise to be back in a few weeks.

Lots to be thankful for.