Thanksgiving 2021

General 2 Minutes

I grew up with what is likely a myth, the long table full to groaning of all the food shared by the pilgrims and Indians so many years ago, representing the beginning or perhaps the middle of a beautiful friendship. We know now that a lot more was going on in that “relationship” than made it into the history books. Said books are, after all, written by the victors.

And we European white people, we stole what wasn’t ours from the indigenous people who were here first.

We shared a little about this with the boys this year and encouraged them to ask questions, to look deeper into history lessons, especially when black or brown people take a central role. Even if Critical Race Theory (CRT) isn’t taught in the schools, we can do some of that at home. Each of us should look deeply and not simply accept information at face value.

And yet, once that serious thinking and teaching is addressed, this holiday for me has become not so much about what happened so many years ago, but what is happening now. The holidays are about getting together with those people we love, to connect and to share about our lives. To appreciate time with others and to reminisce about those empty chairs around the table, physically and metaphorically.

This year, an odd year, we will celebrate with my husband, Elliot’s family. Most of his family lives in or around Orlando, so that’s where we traveled.

I spent most of the day yesterday in Baldwin Park with these two while Elliot chauffeured his mom from where she is staying to lunch with us and then to the nursing home to visit with his dad.
Watching the boys play where we took them when they were very small was quite nostalgic.

In 2021, COVID stole my maternal grandmother and one of Elliot’s Aunts, along with so many others around the world. In the MBC community, we have lost so many, the subject of a recent Our MBC life We Remember episode. So long as our family members and friends are remembered and celebrated, they will never fully die.

The hardest thing about building relationships with those in the MBC community is that we’re all living with a terminal illness and we die at a rate of 114-116 people per day in the US. Knowing more people means that more and more I know the names and faces and stories of so many of those we’ve lost and their families. And my heart breaks a little more to read about the health decline, see the announcements when they’ve passed and to watch their families adjust to that empty chair.

And so, dear readers, on this Thanksgiving Day and every day, I want you to know that I am thankful for each of you. Those of you who read and like and comment and share and remember my efforts are such a necessary reflection and keeps me going. This blogging thing is a solitary endeavor and can be lonely at times, just like living with a terminal/serious illness like MBC. Each of you who show up and show me that my efforts are not totally in vain, you make this worth it.

From our family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving and now onto Christmas, my favorite of the annual winter holidays!!!

Published by Abigail Johnston

I'm a daughter, a wife, a mother, and I've been living with Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer since March, 2017. All of the words I publish are my own.

Published

38 thoughts on “Thanksgiving 2021”

  2. Thank you for your beautiful thoughts! Have a wonderful day and now on to Christmas!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰🍁🍁🍁🍁and onto🤶🏻🎅🏼❤️❤️❤️

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  5. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Abigail. Orlando sounds inviting right now as we face snow where I live. Another beautiful post and photo. Hugs to all reading this 💖💖💖

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  9. Just so you know, Abigail… your blogs (and videos/zoom sessions, and our friendship outside these) all make me feel less alone in this MBC thing. You are one of my great blessings in life. xoxo

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  16. I don’t reply or post often, but please know, dear Abigail, that I very much appreciate your writings, teachings, insights, compassion and care that you put into your blogs and the advocacy work you do for all of us. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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  18. Pingback: Weekly Round-Up: The Gratitude Edition | Journeying Beyond Breast Cancer

  19. Thank you for sharing. I must admit I have never really cared about what Thanksgiving in the USA is about or the traditions and now I’m interested so will be doing some more research!

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