A Most Personal and Heartfelt Thanksgiving Message

Last year at this time I was anxiously awaiting Hub's recovery after having  had a baseball sized tumor removed from his colon. I didn't think Thanksgiving could be any worse.  But things have a way of proving me wrong.

Last night I had a phone message from my niece asking me to call asap.  She had terrible news.  Her Mom or Dad?  Both our age and it wouldn't surprise me.  One of their daughters?  Oh, please, no. But no.  The worst possible news one could ever get.  Her husband had committed suicide that morning.

I was beyond words.  I still am.  It came out of the blue.  No one expected anything. Yet he hanged himself in the woods near their home.  Why? For the love of God, why?  He leaves his wife and two daughters and a multitude of family and friends who loved him.

We are all in a state of shock.  It's surreal.  Answers no doubt will come once the shock wears off and the necessary business begins but it will forever alter Thanksgiving for his family.

I guess my point is you just never know when  tragedy will strike.  It pays no attention to things like holidays and family get togethers and what should be times of joy and celebration. It has a mind of its own.

I'm thankful Hub came home last Thanksgiving day and we've had a wonderful year since for which I am  greatly thankful.  It is, however, overshadowed by the grief, disbelief and even anger of a young widow who I happen to love very much.

So when you think of Thanksgiving, be thankful for all you have and mean it.  You never know when in an instant it can all be gone. In this case death took a holiday; it took a holiday away forever.  The finality of it is devastating and unnerving yet oh so real.

Life is  precious yet vulnerable to forces we don't necessarily comprehend. The end of that precious life is part of the cycle, expected in time and of course final.  It's difficult for those left behind. But to have a loved one driven to it prematurely is a tragedy beyond words.