Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving Dinner (shortly after a 9x13 inch Pyrex dish exploded on the stovetop destroying the amazing and much anticipated sausage and chestnut stuffing and sending shards of glass all over the kitchen, including into the much loved turkey gravy...) 

Giving Thanks, by Mommy

This year we are thankful for so many things. It is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day activities and forget to reflect and remember what we are thankful for and the wonderful and fortunate life we live. I was recently reminded after the tragic death of the 7-year-old daughter of a good friend and mentor of mine that life is short. Her premature death reminds us about the things that really matter - family, friends and love. Sometimes, we need to slow down and enjoy the day. The sunshine. The company. Be in the moment and put down the devices and distractions. Forget about work, Facebook, or emails. Spend an few hours being present with those around us.
I read a recent article in the Huffington Post about friendship. The best quality in a friend is one who shows up. Friendships are definitely harder to keep and harder to make as life fills with other responsibilities, like careers, spouse/partner, kids, bills, etc. but a friend's support is more important as life fills with these demands. Best friends aren't necessarily the ones who you've known the longest or have the most fun partying with, but the one who shows up. We have lived in Seattle for five years now are lucky to have had many old friends show up for us at important times, like the birth of Theo and Marit. Unfortunately, due to my very restrictive work schedule as a resident and now cardiology fellow, I feel like I haven't been able to be a good friend. Making new friends is also hard with two young kids and working 80-hours per week but we are lucky to have some great families that we met through PEPS. While quality is better than quantity, I fear the quality of my friendships with so many of you has also suffered. So for all those loyal readers of this blog, I want to say, THANK YOU. On this Thanksgiving blog, I wish I could hug each and every one of you and say thank you for being a good friend and following us on this adventure. I'm sorry I haven't been there to show up for you for all your successes and challenges but I'm still here and want to be your friend.
This Thanksgiving, we were fortunate to host my whole family at our house - Grandma "JoJo" JoAnn, Grandpa John, Auntie Annie and Uncle Eric and baby cousin Evelyn, and Uncle Dan! We also had our good friends, Martins and Angela, over for the third consecutive year to enjoy the feast and good wine.

Cousins Theo, Evelyn (7 months) and Marit (11 months)

Grandkids - Marit, Theo and Evelyn

Theo got to go up the Space Needle for the first time on a beautiful sunny day while Mommy and Daddy were busy working. He also helped make some Thanksgiving day turkey decorations out of toilet paper rolls and construction paper. He helped trace his hand out of different color paper and glue them together to make not-quite-Pinterest-worthy-but-still-very-cute decorations for the table. We cut out extra hand prints for everyone to write thing that they were thankful for on. Here are the highlights that were written on the handprints:
-Family
-Food
-Friends
-Health
-Education
-Loans
-Safe travels
-Good job
-Sunshine
-We are all together
-Wonderful parents for our grandkids
-New challenges
-Dogs - Lou and Winnie
-A place to call home
-A cabin to visit
-Generosity of family and friends

And Theo's list of things he was thankful for:
-Crayons
-Being together in Seattle
-A big refrigerator
-Christmas is coming soon
-Car carrier truck with cars
-Elliot
-Big house painted blue

This was a wonderful activity for everyone to be able to share what they are thankful for. I also have one thing to add and that is I'm thankful for that career that I am in. Being in the medical profession is a privilege and a gift; we are privileged to serve, to share the human drama of our patients, to contribute to their health and well-being while they share with us their an intimate piece of themselves at a time when they are vulnerable and in need of help. As medical professionals, we are often expected to work on major holidays and fortunately I was off this year and could spend time with my family instead. I've been in school since 1990 and still have two more years until I get my first real job and despite the terrible hours, I can't imagine doing anything else.
I see people from not only the Pacific Northwest but all over the world and they come from all different walks of life. I ask detailed questions about their symptoms and history often learning something that even those who are close to them didn't know. In the past few months I've taking care of the very rich and the very poor, including the CEO of a large Seattle company, a millionaire with his own seaplane, a homeless veteran of the Vietnam war, an undocumented immigrant from Latin America, an HIV-positive man infected in the early 1990s prior to any treatment, a Russian baboushka (grandmother), a pregnant Native American woman from Alaska, a Boeing airplane engineer, a transgender man, a young white woman intravenous drug user, a prison inmate, and a number of foreign travelers from China, Philippines and South Korea on vacation to visit family who live in the area. I always enjoy asking about the "Social History" as it is a way to connect with patients and gives me something to remember them by. Today (an everyday), I'm thankful for all these things listed above. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, too. THANK YOU!

Cousins Marit (11 months) and Evelyn (7 months)

A walk around Green Lake

Theo pushing Uncle Dan on the playground

Cheese! (Why is he squishing me?)

Take 1

Take 99... (it's nearly impossible to get 3 kids to look at the camera)

Pastorius family pic 2015

Doctor 1 and Doctor 2

In my happy place...

Reading books before bed

Family pic

Getting ready for Christmas

Getting ready for Christmas

Grandpa hanging the Christmas lights

Stomping on the compost leaves

Riding his balance bike

Waiting to see Santa

Theo's nervous to talk to Santa

Marit and Evelyn's first visit with Santa

Adorable!

Santa's reindeer

Christmas card preview

Pastorius family picture

Sibling love

Attempting to get a picture in the sleigh

Two little monkey's jumping on the bed...