Thanksgiving weekend recap

It was an interesting weekend. Every year I find that there are many things to be thankful for, and this year was no different in that respect. But there were definitely a few things to add to the thoughts and prayers list. First, my cousin's friend, K. whose husband just passed away after battling a very brutal and rare form of cancer. Second, L.'s step mother, J., who beat breast cancer a few years ago and has now received news of cancer of the bones, liver, and lungs. Third, my sister, P. and my niece and nephew who are suddenly in a bit of a uncertain position as P. and her husband, T., are having marital problems.

P. and the kids came over for Thanksgiving at my mom's house, and we managed to have a nice dinner even though it was clearly not your typical Thanksgiving. I mostly felt bad because P. just doesn't know what to do next, and she doesn't really have the means to do much about her situation. She's got Multiple Sclerosis, two kids, and she depends on her husband for money and medical insurance. She doesn't have a job, because she takes care of the kids and house, and is trying to manage her MS. We all chipped in some money for her expenses to come over for Thanksgiving and to get her by, and we offered places for them to come in the event that things go from bad to worse. But, she is definitely in a bad way.

If things don't work out between P. and T., P. is going to have to figure out what she can do. She used to be a wonderful hairdresser, but with the MS she has numbness in her hands, and up one arm and shoulder. And she would probably move back over here because western Washington is where the bulk of her family and friends live so she would have more of a support system, but man is it ever expensive here. Like my mom recently said, "once you move away, you'd better be sure that you don't want to come back because you probably won't be able to afford to." I'm sure that P. would get child support payments, and some kind of social security or disability payments, but it would be really hard on her and the kids for sure, both emotionally and financially.

I keep praying that she and T. will work this all out. Out of all of their years together, I've never doubted how much they love one another and they've made it through some really rough times. But something seems slightly different here, and that makes me nervous. I can't really put my finger on it. I'm just sad because she was such a talented artist and hairdresser, and that dream has been pretty much squashed by the numbness problems from her MS. And now it seems like her marriage is falling apart. We will just have to keep praying for them and offer them any assistance that they need to get through this time.