Giving thanks for things that money can’t buy ~ November 26, 1987

David Heiller

“If you could give anyone one gift, what would it be?”

We’ve asked our friends, from playmates on the playground to roommates in college, that question. When we were younger, we said things like “A million bucks,” or “That red head in biology class.”

But I would bet most adults would answer, “Good health.”

Three people have me thinking about good health these days, before Thanksgiving is totally digested and before Christmas roars into full commercial overdrive.

First, there’s my Grandma Schnick. Grandma Schnick is

Grandma Schnick was always willing to
play a game of football with Noah.

92 years old. She still lives at home. She is in good health, despite a stroke and a heart attack in her past. She doesn’t drive a car, but that’s not surprising because she never drove a car. She does climb the stairs to her home above my mother several times a day, and she walks to the post office for the mail every day. I think that keeps her as healthy as her trips to the doctor. I’m thankful for my Grandma’s health, and in the same breath, I’m thankful for my mother, who looks after Grandma so that she can stay at home.

Then there’s Joe Schejbal. Joe is as kind and as gentle a man as you will meet. He’s got my grandmother beat in age by three years. He lives at home, alone, in Willow River. His mind is crystal clear, despite a stroke and heart attack. He drives his car to the Willow River Nutrition Center every day. I’m thankful for people like Grandpa Joe, thankful they can still spread their kind and gentle ways to others. And I’m thankful to all his family members and to Pine County nurses and health care workers for helping Joe stay at home and live a happy life.

Grandma Schnick and Malika

But the flip side is there too. We see people sick, and suffering, and that makes us more hopeful than thankful. Bob Eikum is a good friend of mine, of readers of this newspaper, and a good friend of many people who have a love of nature.

Bob, 65, has diabetes, and the disease has caught up with him. He’s been in and out of the hospital for the past two years with lung problems, a broken hip, eye surgery that has left him temporarily blind, and now kidney problems. He can’t read, and he can barely walk.

Bob doesn’t want pity, not yours or mine. He is still taking pictures, and he is learning to write by dictation. He’s fighting back, because he wants more than anything to be able to be to see and roam his beloved Minnesota Outdoors. I think someday soon he will be able to do just that, especially with the help of his wife, Boots.

We hope for such things this time of year. Αnd when we’re done hoping, we say a silent thank you for the Grandma Schnicks and Grandpa Joes of our lives, and for the Bob Eikums too.