This Thanksgiving I am so grateful and thankful for my dear sweet Sam. Of course I am thankful for my family and close circle of friends, and Lila of course. But these past seven plus months Sam and I have ventured down the road of cancer together. Comrades in Arms. Cancer Warriors. We have each carried each orther at different times. Never leaving one anothers side. Cancer took his front leg and my left eye (I still miss it) but not our spirits.

But the year has been challenging. As you may recall Sam got a deep tissue cancer around the first of March. Mela and I thought we might have to put him to rest around April 1. Then I was diagnosed with choroidal melanoma on April 6 and Sam proceeded to get better. I guess he knew I would need him and him me. And Lila keeps both of us on our toes. I suppose that is what girls do.

But the days of ‘tree tag’ have waned. Going back about six years I would come up the hill from work still in my suit and my Alden dress shoes to Mela’s home and Sam would come running out to meet me for a game of tree tag. I would run around the scrub oak trees like an idiot and Sam would run and jump. Mind you it was dark and Sam is a black standard poodle. I am sure neighbors did not see Sam and wondered why some man is running around the yard like he is on fire. I did not care. We have developed an inseparable bond.

I will continue to count so many blessings chief among them is that Mela has been five years cancer free. And I hope that Sam and I will post another picture here in four years when we will have been cancer free for close to five years.

Happy Thanksgiving & God Bless