A Thanksgiving Like No Other

A Thanksgiving Like No Other

Have you experienced a Thanksgiving like no other? 

If so, was it a positive or negative thing that made it different?

Our family has historically been traditional when it comes to major holidays. Basically, the same setting, same menu, and mostly the same people. 

Several years ago, our Thanksgiving celebration was completely turned on it’s head. Plans were underway. The menu was set. Our college sons were confirming their expected arrival times. The countdown was trotting along according to plan … until we got the call. My father was in the emergency room—suspected heart attack. 

Daddy was the long-established patriarch of the clan—even to many of our cousins’ families. At first, we believed this to be a hiccup in a week that was full and bubbling with anticipation. Not so.  

Doctors confirmed—Daddy had had a heart attack. My mom, brother, husband and I gathered at the hospital consulting with doctors, as they calculated the seriousness of Daddy’s condition. It was determined needed to be transported to a heart center about forty-five miles away.

His condition was stable so the doctor suggested we all go home for the night while he was transferred and checked in. Next morning my brother took Mamma to be with Daddy and I went to school to teach my seventh and eighth graders, planning to head for the hospital at the end of the school day. 

Mid-morning, our assistant principal pulled me out of my classroom to inform me that Daddy had another heart attack and wasn’t doing well.

As quickly as possible I drove to the hospital, praying all the way. I arrived to find Daddy in good spirits, joking with the nurse, but was informed he had experienced multiple heart attacks. He was in a holding pattern, awaiting an ambulance to take him to the main heart center a few blocks away. They had not had room for him the night before. 

The nurse told me they were waiting for an ambulance which was about forty minutes out. I could see the concern on her face and found it hard to believe we were in ICU waiting for an ambulance. Others of our family had gone ahead to the Heart Center.

I looked at Daddy, then the nurse, who was not leaving his side. I prayed. Then I said to the nurse, “Call 911.” 

Can you imagine? We’re in the ICU of a large hospital and the nurse is calling 911. It worked.

Within five minutes they were loading Daddy into an ambulance. The team of doctors and operating room at the heart center were ready and waiting for his arrival. 

By the time I got there his open-heart surgery was underway. I and several other family members waited and waited. Into the evening, the surgery ended and a couple of us at a time were allowed to see him briefly. What a huge relief that he made it through, but was now in a fragile state of recovery.

In a quiet darkened waiting room my mother, brother, a niece, and one of my sons reclined as best we could on chairs and couches, settled in for a long uncomfortable night. But none of us were interested in the restfulness of our own beds until we were confident our loved-one was out of the woods. 

During early morning rounds, Daddy’s surgeon settled our fears updating us that Daddy was in pretty good condition for all he had been through and that our vigil could end. What a magnificent Thanksgiving morning! God was saying, “Yes,” to our prayers. 

We each had another brief visit with Daddy and notified appropriate extended family members of his condition. With grateful hearts we put our heads together and plotted out our Thanksgiving Day plan. 

My brother’s former college roommate, Pete, had invited us to crash in his nearby apartment. I called my husband, Guy, who was on standby at home. The day before, he had arranged for a traditional Thanksgiving meal to be prepared by a local grocery store. He was to pick up the feast and head our way. 

We left Daddy in the capable care of specialists and gathered at Pete’s apartment to celebrate Thanksgiving. Turkey and all the fixins covered his table. My mother, my brother with his wife and three college age children, Pete with his two young adult sons, and Guy and I, with our two sons, encircled the table and clutched hands to pray. 

Around that circle I saw faces with moist eyes. We were unshowered, tired, and looked it. But there was a radiance we shared which was beyond explanation.

Who was going to pray? We stood there waiting, each one paralyzed with emotion. Finally, through his own emotion, Guy spoke up and offered up a prayer of gratitude for God’s love and goodness—for His tender care and provision—and most of all for giving Daddy a new lease on life. 

This was a Thanksgiving like no other. 

Daddy, with his namesake great-grandson

Daddy was seventy years old at the time of this experience. God graciously gave him eighteen more years and, except for the last couple of those years, he had exceptionally good health. He and Mamma experienced the joy of having a relationship with all eleven great-grandchildren, none of whom were born yet at the time of his heart attacks. We are a grateful family.

Have you experienced a Thanksgiving like no other? Please share in the comments below.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved-ones!

©Copyright 2018 Connie Wohlford