Here it is, Saturday evening, November 26^th, and I am just now putting together an email to send out.

What happened? Why didn’t Thanksgiving week go as planned? Life threw a series of curve balls….

As many of you know, my mother came to stay with us at the beginning of last May after a 4-day hospital stay. Fast forward to today, she is still here and will be celebrating her 91^st birthday on December 25^th. She is doing remarkably well overall, except for an invasive squamous growth on her nose. The call came last Friday to schedule slow MOHS on Monday. We were told that the follow-up would be either Tuesday or Wednesday, or both.

She had the surgery Monday morning. I dropped her off at home and then went to the CVS for her antibiotic and pain reliever, which they did not have ready. I saw clients as planned that afternoon. Because of our next two days were up in the air, I bought the turkey and everything I needed to prepare our Thanksgiving meal Monday night.

Once home, I retrieved the prescription and took it back to CVS and waited for it to be filled. I had no idea that it was one that my mom cannot take. Monday was done.

Tuesday, we got the call that the margins were clear! We celebrated the win while waiting for the call to come in for closure. When the call came, we had an hour to get ready and get to the Marietta office. We had to rush, but we got there on time and sat while we waited, and waited, and waited until she was finally called back.

Not long after, the attending nurse, Andrea (pronounced An-dray’-a) came out to let me know they were going to have to do a skin graft and she had no idea how long it was going to take. Yay. I knew at this point I would have to cancel my evening clients because I had no idea how long we would be there.

I am, if nothing else, patient. I am also interested in people and their stories, so I engaged Andrea in conversation, and we connected in such a wonderful way! She is a beautiful woman inside and out, and I was grateful she was at my mother’s side.

As you can tell, with each curve ball, I had to pivot. All of this could have had created a variety of emotional states because I still had a meal to prepare. It was Tuesday and nothing had been done.

We finally left the doctor’s office at 6:30. I still had to get my mother home and take the new pain med prescription to CVS. Tuesday was gone, and still no Thanksgiving prep. Wednesday was filled with after-care, making meals for the day, a couple of walks with the dogs and starting the sweet potato casserole.

On Thanksgiving I got up early and went to work on our meal. I had some decisions to make about the menu. When we finally sat down to eat at 7:30, the meal was simple with no dessert. I was filled with gratitude that my dear mother was at the table with Steve and me, with our three Irish Terriers close by.

I have much to be grateful for. Mostly I am grateful that I have learned to handle the life’s curve balls without wigging out with stress, anger, or frustration.