One thing I haven’t addressed is the Clinical situation we were in during the fall of 2016. From the very beginning, we were told that there were multiple tumor sites, including the liver, sternum, and lymph nodes, in addition to the left breast. I didn’t ask “What stage is the cancer?” nor did Lynette, but that is Stage 4. Dr. Hightower would look at Lynette’s scans and say “We’re seeing progress on the sites.” “These sites are smaller.” “This area didn’t light up on the last scan.” The word “remission” was never uttered. Dr. Hightower always came across as caring and encouraging, but she never told us anything that wasn’t true. Another thing that was happening during this time was that Lynette was not ALWAYS anchored to the couch or bed. She continued her monthly trips to Jackson for Dream Group. She went to worship at St. Paul several times. She went to the Stewardship Dinner at St. Paul in October at which Bishop James Swanson spoke and attended his seminar on preaching for the District Clergy the next day. She was barred from actually going to hospitals or nursing homes, but tried to keep up with some of the people with whom she had established relationships. Two days before Thanksgiving 2016, we met Lynette’s sisters and nephews at a residential hotel in the Jackson suburbs for an early Thanksgiving dinner. Lynette did a tremendous amount of the buying and transportation of the food for that dinner. I’m sure she was worn out, but not so much that she was unable to enjoy the time with her family. We went back to Gulfport on Wednesday and my best memory is that Lynette and Sarah cooked a “traditional” Thanksgivng dinner for the four of us. It had been my family’s practice to gather every other Christmas season in the city where one of we five children live. That gathering had been in Gulfport in 2014. The “hosting” child and family has a great deal of work to do. At my father’s 80th birthday observance in July 2015, we had agreed that, perhaps, a summer gathering was better, especially because my sister Eileen and I are both clergy.Then, of course, Lynette’s cancer diagnosis entered the system. Eileen called me, offering to completely coordinate a gathering in Gulfport the last week of December. I certainly was NOT up for hosting again, but she was sure she and others could pull things together. So, it was that EVERYONE came to Gulfport December 27-29. My parents had three children (I’m the middle of those three) and my father and mother each had one child from their second marriages. My brother has two children. I have two. Eileen has one. Melody Altman Mahusay has three children and Jill Edwards McArthur has three. That is, as my Grandmother Hamilton might have said, “A Gob of Folks” to be in one place. Eileen found a large house about a block from the beach to be the “Central” spot. Everyone came and everyone had a seat at the table. It was a great gift even at the time, but it’s even more special in my remembrance, since it turned out to be the last time ALL of those people would be together in this life. More “stuff” happened in 2017, but that wraps up the highlights (and lowlights) of 2016.