This season always draws me to introspection and thankfulness. Tillie and I had a mini fall celebration today. I had originally hoped to take her and little brother Ray to a pumpkin patch but it didn't end up fitting into the day. Instead, just Tillie and I had an outing to the local Fred Meyer, where I lifted her into the bins of pumpkins. With smiling strangers passing by (and my camera clicking away), we discussed what we liked about each pumpkin, how they smelled, and established her as the Pumpkin Princess.
This beautiful, funny, inquisitive little girl never ceases to delight me and today especially, as we laughed among the bright pumpkins, my thankfulness overflowed that she is my niece and that she will survive leukemia. Tillie is now in what is called the "maintenance phase" of her treatment; a long and necessary period to ensure that the leukemia doesn't return. She takes oral chemo meds at home and makes monthly trips to the children's oncology ward (which includes sedation at times, her least favorite part). This phase will last until July 2013 -- she will be almost 7 when we will celebrate the end of her chemo treatments.
But today, we forgot about all of this. Today, she was just a little girl playing with pumpkins. Today, my thankfulness -- for her, for her survival, and for the multitude of people that have rallied around her -- is boundless. Thank you, thank you.
