Thankful

This will be my wordiest and most personal post on this blog so far, so bear with me.

I realize that Thanksgiving was nearly a week ago, and that doing a blog post about what I’m thankful for is a little dated. Nonetheless, my Thanksgiving definitely reminded me of what’s important.

One year ago, I spent Thanksgiving with my husband’s family. We had just gotten back from our honeymoon. My sister, on the other hand, spent Thanksgiving in a hospital room, a room that she frequently referred to as “cancer jail.” As my husband and I were winding down our honeymoon, she was checking into the hospital and beginning a final and agonizing round of chemo before getting her own stem cells transplanted into her body in hopes that they would grow into healthy, cancer-free cells. The month that followed involved lots of midnight Skype conversations, she and I chatting while the rest of the hospital was quiet and the few visitors that were allowed access to her quarantine had gone home.

That was one year ago. Last week, healthy and looking like the pre-cancer sister I grew up with, she told me that she wanted to celebrate with a tattoo. So on the Black Friday, we headed to Heroes and Ghosts in Richmond.

Waiting to get started.

So why “courage”?  After her transplant last year, my husband and I were Christmas shopping at the shops in our neighborhood and came across a small, handmade silver bracelet with the word “courage” stamped on it.  Naturally, we knew what we’d be giving my sister that Christmas.  She hasn’t take it off since.

As always, I sit in the sidelines and watch as she proves that nothing is too painful to bear.

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