Thankful for Ben

 Ben in his Halloween Costume

Wearing his dad's army shirt

Today I am thankful for my youngest child. Ben has been known to provoke in me one of those bursting-from-the-inside, can't-catch-your-breath sort of laughs. We were taking a walk and he looked down,  wondering, "Is there something on my shirt?" Just as he said that, I turned around to watch him pretend to run into a mailbox, his hand banging the side with a resounding thud. He looked at me all innocent and asked, "Why didn't you warn me?" That's Ben in a nutshell. Funny, creative, immensely sweet. The other day I suggested that Nathan might want to wear another layer under his soccer shirt. He said he didn't think he needed to. I answered, "That's right, you are a boy and you are tough, unlike your mom." Ben looked me in the eye, overhearing this conversation, and said, "I think you are tough because of what you've gone through."   Pretty amazing words coming from a ten year old boy. I love to watch him play sports because he throws his whole heart into it, whether he is being a pesky defender in soccer or gobbling up grounders hit up the middle in baseball. He has brought laughter and fun to our home these past 10 years and I'm so thankful for every minute of it.

Today, I finished treatment #7. I met a lady who was going in for her second treatment. She told me her last day is scheduled to be Christmas Eve. She is hoping she can come in on Thanksgiving instead so she would be done a day earlier. I'm thankful that I am done on the 17th. It would be hard to have treatment that close to Christmas.