The Story: Part 12 Thanksgiving

We got ready for Thanksgiving when we go back to mom and dads house. I had brought the ingredients for a Shrimp salad. We had celery to cut. Mom and I worked on the Turkey. A basic , typical pre-Thanksgiving night. In the back of my mind I kept thinking...Cancer... Cancer... Cancer.. Then mom got on the phone and started telling my brothers and sister. WOW! The emotions kicked in. Reality. It was a tough night for me. When we finally went to bed, poor Terry just held me, as I cried myself to sleep.
I hadn't told Jenni and Jared yet about the cancer. I was talking with Janell on the phone, who couldn't come for the day because of Brandon's work. I relayed the worry I had for Jen.. She was at her dad's now and I wanted to wait to tell her when she got there at the church. Janell wanted to tell her to ease the pain and give her support. She said. "Please mom, let me tell Jenni about the cancer, it will be better coming from me. Especially since she's at dads house." I agreed with her.
We got ready and drove to Thayne. Because of the large group we decided to have Thanksgiving dinner at the LDS Church house. We got there about 10:00 or so, lunch was at 12:00. Sherry had reserved the building. We decided that the kids to play basketball, volleyball, and boardgames, the adults could help with the meal and talk. It was a good plan.
We started right in on making our different entrees. Me with my salad, MarJean stuffing celery, Sherry dressing(for the turkey - silly - she was already dressed;)) and mom was so cute sitting on a chair in the middle of the kitchen giving directions.
About 11:00 Jenni and Jared came in. Jenni just grabbed me started to cry. Then I started to cry. "I'm sorry Jenni, I just had the hardest time telling you. I was so scared for you. I wish I could take it all away." We just sat there and cried and cried." Jared came and and gave me a hug. "I'm glad she has you Jared. We love you both very much" "You know I couldn't tell you last night while you were driving. It would have been a mess... I didn't even know if you had tissues or not." Jared agreed.
I found it interesting to myself how each of my bothers and sisters handled the news of the cancer. Sherry, the go getter, was very matter of fact, as if this was part of life and we all have trials for our good. She said more than once that is was not about me, but for the rest of the family to grow and learn. Lee, lost his sweetheart several years ago to breast cancer. He wasn't there for Thanksgiving but was serving his wonderful family for the day or our numbers would be in the 60's. MarJean, the LPN nurse, was very clinical. She wanted to know what, when, where and why. Danny, just came and gave me a bear hug and said, "We're behind you 100%. Vance, the quiet one of the family, being the youngest he can't get a word in edgewise, was just quiet. I felt if he didn't talk about it--it wasn't there. My sister-in-laws were amazing. It wasn't the topic of conversation for the the most part. I retold my story and that was the end of that.
The food was fantastic. The family family was amazing and then we made gingerbread houses. What a great day..... more to come........