This post is a bit late. It's been a busy couple of days. Ken was home for Thanksgiving and yesterday. His sister Lisa, brother-in-law Mark, niece Emily and nephew Daniel were here. His mom and dad, my dad and sister (and my dad's dog) were all here. It was great, but hectic. Lisa's family took Wyatt (Gus was getting over a stomach flu) bowling (candlepin and regular!), to a game room and to Friendly's. He is still talking about it.
On to thankfulness. I hope that I have made it very clear in my previous posts how much your support has meant to us, and me. I am generally a relatively private person, I don't have a huge circle of friends, and my life is pretty quiet. I told Ken I was only going to do the blog if I had to.
Then everything fell apart and I had this instant lifeline. And the lifeline had me. Not only was I being taken care of by my family (in this I include Ken's), and friends, but I was also being boosted up by people I didn't know, hadn't met.
I thought I would be really uncomfortable with a lot of people knowing my business. I didn't want to feel like someone's tragic reality show fix. And I think there is a bit of that in this. Not in a morbid way. I think we are all, understandably, fascinated by other peoples' lives, joys and tragedies. Seeing something like this happen to someone else helps us to think about it, how we would react, what we would do. Live through it at a safe distance. And, hopefully, reminds us to appreciate all the days we live without something like this in our lives.
So, in conclusion, to put it succinctly, I am thankful that I was made to feel less alone. Because believe me, when I could finally breathe, or do anything besides be stunned, I knew you all were there. And so did Ken.
To put it even more succinctly, in fact in list form, here are the things I am thankful for:
phone calls, comments on the blog, e-mails, cards, gifts, love, prayers, raking, food, babysitting, visits, pictures, rides to and from the bus station, housecleaning, pumpkins (FYI-smashing them? against a tree? great way to get out frustration, anger etc. you know, if you have any in your life.), offers of these things and more, Kenapallooza (more on that later), and all the things I am forgetting.
I think that's it for me. It seems so little. Ken has said he'd like to do a blog about this as well, but just in case he doesn't (he is kind of busy), I think I am safe in saying . . . him, too.
My favorite punctuation mark is the semicolon. And it's an apt metaphor for recent years of my life: it's more than a comma pause, not quite a period stop; it usually appears in the middle of a sentence; no one quite knows how to use it properly; it's a sigh of contemplation; a knowing wink; an upward glance of reflection.
Love you James. We're thankful for you too.
ReplyDeleteScott
It can be no other way Jamie and Ken, you are in our hearts and our thoughts. Not being here for you would be not being. Love ya. See you soon.
ReplyDeleteEd D.
It was great to see you guys on Friday . . . sounds like we're lucky we even ran into you! I know that's how I feel.
ReplyDeleteThanks for letting us all in to your most private world and for allowing us to help in little ways (and big ones for those who've been able to do that!!); it makes us feel useful. :)
love, Amy
J, I'm so glad you've been willing to blog! I love reading what you write, and I appreciate feeling connected. I wish all the time I lived down the street! It's hard to feel far away from a family I adore all the time and especially when I wish I could provide loads of support. Thank you for so many things, and for one, for keeping this little community chugging along, in a million ways. EFS
ReplyDeleteYeah, thanks, J, for the continued posts. Even though I'm not commenting, it's the first thing I generally do if I get on the computer. Charlie woke me up this morning asking about Ken. True story.
ReplyDelete