“Be thankful for everything that happens in your life; it’s all an experience.” – Roy T. Bennett
What a lovely and yet another unexpected gift as we are here for such a long Arkansas stay!
We had a Thanksgiving invite to Memphis with friends of my family I hadn’t seen in over three decades. But Dave wasn’t feeling comfortable going. The long drive (2+ hours) and a crowd. My family friend and I were disappointed, but Dave’s comfort level with his health was in the driver’s seat. We got another unexpected invite from a stranger. He and his wife read the article in the Arkansas Gazette. He’s an MM survivor of 11 years and travels about 30 min to UAMS for his care. His wife said, “Gosh, I bet they would love to have Thanksgiving in a home.” With that said, he took it upon himself to contact the clinic and ask them to pass his name and number along to us. They got my permission to send it. I didn’t know who it was or what it was about. But when I mentioned it to our APN, she said, “What’s his name?” I told her, and she said, “OH! YES! He’s a doctor and a patient here. He was in the Air Force as I remember.”
Well, this old Air Force Brat had to call him! We had the most lovely phone call, and he invited us to his house for Thanksgiving lunch. He offered to come and pick us up. We talked about Dave’s situation, and I asked if I could call him the next day after we got all our appointments done and saw how his immune system was holding up. “Of course!” he said. He fully duplicated our situation and gave us all the latitude we needed. We got everything done, and he was tired from the day but in good shape to go for Thanksgiving the following afternoon. I called them and got the rest of the information, and we made plans to go. I was exhausted from the long day doing all his tests and still managed to drag myself to the store for some flowers and a bottle of wine to take. When I handed it off as we arrived, I said, “My grandmother would come out of her grave and slap me around if I didn’t bring something!” We all laughed, having the same reality on the etiquette of being a good guest. They did not know that I was an Air Force Brat, so that was a fun thing to share with them.
It was the perfect afternoon. The four of us, their adult daughter visiting, and a young adult grandson is living there. So it was intimate, and she placed us at a table where we weren’t all jammed in together. Being a cancer patient herself and her husband’s myeloma, they were very well-versed in everything to keep us all safer. They have been hunkered down for two years, only going out for groceries and a rare family visit.
We shared many things about our lives and our myeloma journey. The Air Force and Dave’s many travels for his work as a telecom engineer. He doesn’t usually talk about himself and what he does, so it was delightful sharing some of his adventures with them and my adventures at home while he was away—and being worried about his safety in the Soviet Union and former Communist Block countries after the wall fell in 1989.
The food was fabulous, the company perfect, their home was beautiful and comfortable with treasures from their overseas travels. But best of all, we’ve made some new friends here in Arkansas, and I sincerely hope we can meet up with them again when we buzz in for testing every few months as time goes on.
This will undoubtedly be a memorable stay in Arkansas. And a fantastic Thanksgiving. I hope yours was enjoyed.
And then Dave noticed a funny video clip from our security camera doorbell! You have to click on the “Hummingbird” link, and a new tab should open. And turn up the volume so you can hear him.
