Thankful

Last year a few days before Christmas, my mother came down with a bad bug that put her in the hospital. She was diagnosed with pneumonia but seemed to be on the mend. On Christmas Day she suddenly went into respiratory failure and had to be put on a ventilator for several days. Her situation was touch and go for a while but she recovered, thank God, and was able to go home shortly after New Year's. Her health has remained frail over the past year. She has good spells and bad spells, but all in all she has been holding her own. We all worry when she is not feeling well, and right now she is suffering from a cold. This morning, I went out to her house to help make dinner rolls with her and my Aunt Georgia for Thanksgiving dinner, which we will have at my sister Penny's house near Bonneville Dam. There was a little friction over cooking procedures, but the rolls got made and tasted excellent. My aunt rated them a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. My mother felt worse in the afternoon and had to see her doctor, but was feeling better by evening. Tomorrow, I will go out and make pumpkin pies, with my mother's guidance. On Thursday, I will make an apple pie, which I have made once before. I am happy to learn how to do these things, and even happier to help my mother out. I'm thankful that she is still with us.