Thanksgiving

Authentically giving thanks as 2021 wraps up seems to me to be a bit of a challenge, personally.

The personal toll and public acrimony surrounding COVID-19 and its variants. The changing workplace with less rapport. Generationally high inflation that is sending the price of consumer goods sky high when earnings are not keeping up. The rising cost of health insurance with fewer options. Fires. Floods. Meanness on the airways and along the by-ways. Impatience. Anger. Frustration. Good grief, what is going on?

Juxtaposed are the virus break-throughs, folks adapting well to remote work, smarter shopping, greater access to good health care, serious discourse over global warming, kindness when least expected, hope for a better tomorrow and so forth.

Duchenne research has picked up now that labs are staffed again. Another trial is exploring genetic repair from a bit of a different angle. Ambulatory patients are living longer. There is greater awareness by the public in general (thank you, firemen, with the boot campaign in September).

For my grandson with DMD, he has just been asked to teach his first grade class about the solar system, using a Power Point presentation. How impressive is that! His muscles may not be great but his mind is immensely bright. And, he is a lot of fun to be around, to boot!

Those early Pilgrims certainly survived a lot of near death situations but did survive, nonetheless, with the help of God and native neighbors. One thing is sure about blessings … one does not know when the next one is coming around the bend.

So, yes, I will give thanks this season, not necessarily for life as it has been in 2021 but rather for Life in general and for the brief glimpses of hope and goodness we enjoy if we just keep open hearts and minds. Let’s cure Duchenne.  

Kindly yours,

Papa in Franklin