Showered with Gifts

It started with flowers and food. Within days of leaving the hospital in September, the gifts started pouring in. There were so many supportive, funny cards that although we have a lot of shelf space in the bedroom, we ran out of room.
There were letters and emails from my children's friends, reminiscing about time spent here as a child, and how much it meant to them. I've heard from now-grown women about how I was a role model -- something I was totally unaware of at the time but is obviously very gratifying to learn.
And the gifts just keep on coming, some from people I've never met. There's the letter and purple wristbands that say "Pray for a Better Day" from the cousin of a friend of one of my sons; the hand-knit shawl from a colleague's boyfriend's mother; a book of sayings and a necklace from a friend I've never met of another son; a hand-knit hat from a good friend of one of my daughters and a scarf and great photo from another of her friends, as well as an angel from another. A fur hat, truffles and a book of women's powerful quotes came from an old friend of mine and a warm, cuddly throw from another friend. One of my son's girlfriends gave me a wondeful, special bed pillow that I use all the time.
I have also heard from newspaper colleagues both from The Independent days and from the 1990s when I served on the board of the NY Press Assoc.
At Christmas came a premium bottle of Scotch from a friend of my son along with a letter reminiscing about how they went hiking & camping in the Adirondacks over Xmas break for a number of years, returning to spread all their frozen gear in front of the woodstove and to chow-down on the hearty stew I would have waiting.
Daughter Ellie presented me with a gorgeous large-format 40-page photo book of the "huggables" inviting "Grandma to Come Play."
And Chris's boys -- Casey & CJ -- presented me with my biography, also large-format with text and photos. Chris had taken them down to the city to interview my mother supposedly for a school assignment. Turns out it was really to get my childhood-through-young-adult bio and photos. What they put together is amazing, complete with a cover collage of lots of family pix.
Just yesterday at a wonderful pot luck lunch with a dozen of my golf buddies, one of them brought me chocolates and a funny pet cartoon book. I get a steady stream of funny internet jokes as well.
I don't think a week's gone by when I haven't had fresh flowers to look at, even in Florida, those courtesy of Hamilton's colleagues in New Orleans, many from my golf group.
I have received lots of advice, again not all from people I know but who know one of my kids, about alternative cancer therapies.
The out-pouring is just amazing to me. I have never been the focus of so much energy and caring. It feels overwhelming at times. The closest thing I can compare it to in my experience is when I was pregnant for the first time. Since I worked at an abortion clinic in NYC, it was very special for the whole, size-able staff -- a wanted pregnancy. To celebrate, my boss threw a huge baby shower -- whole staff invited -- at the Top of the Sixes restaurant and most everyone came. Afterwards, Tony and I piled into the biggest taxi available, completely surrounded by gifts.
That's how I feel now, surrounded by support and caring.