Thanksgiving

My sister has a wonderful tradition at Thanksgiving. She keeps a special journal that she brings out only for Thanksgiving, and in the journal she records what everyone is thankful for on that day or for the previous year. We usually go around the table or in order by age. You need to be present to get your entry in the journal. We missed a few Thanksgivings together, but we were here last year and we were together again this year.

She read the entries from last year. Lea and I both had made the comment that among other things, one of the things we were most thankful for was “the baby on the way”. Last year at Thanksgiving Lea was about 18 weeks pregnant with Johnny. We actually told my family when we got here, primarily by Lea coming in the house with a coat on and taking off her coat in front of everybody. She looked great, and was starting to show enough that we knew our family would notice right away, which they did.

It was a great week here last year, we were so happy that Lea was pregnant with our second child. Everything seemed to be falling into place for us. We were filled with thankfulness, and feeling really blessed. We got home, and about a week later had our 20 week ultrasound that revealed complications with the pregnancy, and told us that all was not completely well with Johnny. All the events of the past year unfolded from that point. It’s incredible to consider all the events and circumstances of the last year.

This year, when it was our turn to say what we are thankful about, Lea and I again both had the same thought. We are both thankful that we knew Johnny, and that we had him in our lives for the time that he was with us, both before and after his birth. One could say there is tragedy in Johnny’s story, but that isn’t the whole picture. There is also much in his brief life that is beautiful. And that’s the part of his story that we are most thankful for.