Kate and I are in Memphis where we are celebrating the holiday with Jesse and her family. It is a cold morning (26 degrees) but warming up to the mid-40s. The sun is shining brightly. I am in the kitchen where Jesse and Greg are making preparations for our Thanksgiving dinner around 3:00 this afternoon. They are cooking a turkey on the Big Green Egg. From past experience I know how good that is. Jesse is quite a cook. I probably haven’t mentioned that she is a vegetarian and has been for over 25 years. That makes it a little surprising that she cooks meat, but the rest of her family have never adopted her veggie habits.
Our friend Nancy Hardwick sent a text this week telling us that Charlie is now on hospice. He was diagnosed with dementia before Kate. When we visited them in Dallas last month, I never would have predicted this. He was very quiet at that time, but I observed no signs of his rapid decline. She said he started going down shortly after we left. He lost his mobility and has stopped eating.
Her message reminds me that there are many of you whose Thanksgiving will not be as joyful as our own. We are very grateful for all our own blessings and are mindful of those who are dealing with the more severe aspects of this disease. I also know that our time is still coming. I just don’t know when. I know it will be sooner than I want.
