Here we go again, another Thanksgiving is fast approaching us and the festivities will begin. We will bake, cook, baste, and scurry around like little mice. We'll anxiously await relatives to storm in with shouts of "Happy Thanksgiving" or we'll pack hurriedly to travel to our friends or relatives homes to share the time with them. The pies will be baked, the turkey stuffed and the kids will scream and play in great delight to be tighter at "Granny's house or have Granny at theirs".

The house will smell of pumpkin, cinnamon, steaming piles of mashed potatoes. The sound of laughter will ring and lots of hugs and kisses will be freely passed around.

That is the Thanksgiving of my pasts; since September of 2002 my holidays have been spent in a sort of surreal way. You see, I will celebrate Thanksgiving, but for many other reasons then Turkey and friends. I will celebrate that I am alive on this Thanksgiving, that I will see my grandchildren, talk to their parents and call up my friends.

I am a lung cancer patient and survivor. I am thankful to breathe, to see, to talk, to hear, to walk to know my grandchildren's faces. September 5th 2002 I was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer limited stage right lung middle lobe. It was the size of my fist sitting on my lung, it had grown tentacles like an octopus that had wrapped around my blood vessels and was growing into my wind pipe. I knew as a heavy smoker I stood a good chance of something like this happening someday, I had after all lost a brother in 1995 to the same kind of cancer I have. He was 50 years and 11 days old. I miss him so much still, and holidays was always a special time with him. He loved holidays; Christmas being the most precious to him but Thanksgiving ran a close second.

My husband is a seven year cancer survivor of Nasopharyngeal (Sinus Cavity) cancer stage IV that we were told he had a 15% chance of survival. That was 8 years ago this coming Monday, just before Thanksgiving. He is here, he is clean, he is well, he works 10 hour days, he rides his Harley's everywhere, he loves and enjoys the grandkids, he is ALIVE. And that's what I want, that's what I want to look forward to, is my 5th anniversary, my 8th. I want to continue to be "Thankful" to God, my family, my friends, my special friends, and my best friend in the world Shayna. They have all given me hope, direction, inspiration, love, guidance and straight talk. I appreciate that so much and how everyone is behind me and my recovery. I am thankful for my grandchildren, Kaya Rain, Zachary, and the new baby Rider; Kaya's little brother. Also the new baby girl "Kathalise" that is coming any day from my oldest son and his wife ( she'll be Zachary's little sister). I'm thankful for my sisters, Karole and Sue my only brother left, C.J., all of their families and their families families.

This will be a special Thanksgiving as not only will I be grateful for the food, home, warmth and happiness but for God's giving me another chance to see yet another Christmas and another birthday and hopefully many more to come.

Enjoy your meal, enjoy your family, enjoy your life and day, trust me, none of us know just what we have to be thankful for until it's almost too late.

God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving to all