Tomorrow marks 11 months post transplant. I get to celebrate my “new” birthday next month. The nurses on the liver transplant floor said I get a new (or maybe an additional) birthday now.  They sang happy birthday to me in the hallway as they were wheeling me to the elevators. That makes it official.  It has been a bittersweet day today. We buried my uncle, my mom’s oldest brother Raymond today. I pray for his wife and children and grandchildren. I pray for his remaining siblings. He was a giant of a man. Smart, funny, loud, honest, gruff...I could go on and on. When I got so sick last year, he got sick around the same time. He checked up on me often and had Aunt Linda text or message me to see how I was. They told me that they were praying for me. I told them that I was worried for him and I was praying for him. He told me that he had live a long and happy life. He was content. I have thought a lot about that in the last year. Being content. Knowing you are sick and having the knowledge that you were, eventually, going to leave this Earth.  He had that knowledge, but, he also had the fortitude and courage to take life as the wonderful gift it is.  In a few days, I get to celebrate Christmas with my family. A Christmas that I was not sure that I would be around to see. I am blessed today and every day with the gift of life from my donor family. I hope one day to meet them. If not face to face, then possibly in letter form. I want to thank them, for giving me the chance to celebrate another birthday, another Christmas, another year with my family. I do not take it for granted. Grateful, thankful, blessed. God Bless you all and Merry Christmas. Thank you for taking this journey with me.