Thanksgiving

Tonight, the pies cool in the kitchen, smells of cinnamon, ginger and cloves fill the air.
Glass and stone and metal gleam in the lamplight, polished and waiting.
Tomorrow, the turkey will drip its juices while mouths water in anticipation.
Family and friends, food and fellowship generate expressions of thanks.

But yesterday, tears flowed recalling brutality towards body and soul.
Frustration mounted with the pressures of care-taking an ill parent.
Fear welled up with the utterance of the words cancer and HIV.
Families fractured because the gap between perfect fantasy and imperfect reality could not be overcome.

Juxtaposition of these worlds jars to the bone and sets teeth on edge.
Grateful and heartbroken, independent emotions felt together.
How to hold both, all, at the same time, in the same space?
Seeing the world from two sides stretches to the limit -
and in the moment I give thanks for the pain.