First & 10 : Thanksgiving Musings - Ed TaitThanksgiving traditionally represents one of the signpost moments on the Canadian Football League calendar, along with the season openers, the Labour Day weekend and the November playoff push to the Grey Cup.
We're not bringing this up today to pick at an open wound for CFL fans - we will, however, point out the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were scheduled to be home to Edmonton on Friday in their 15th game of the season - but instead step back for a bigger-picture take.
I know I've needed that kind of perspective often lately and rather than lamenting the season being cancelled, work to greater appreciate some of the people around me and the moments we have together. Bombers head coach Mike O'Shea helped with that in last week's column and this week we checked in with middle linebacker Adam Bighill.
A husband, a father of three and a man who has fought his own share of battles to become a CFL all-star and future hall of famer, we caught Bighill earlier this week as he was driving to watch swimming lessons for A.J., who turns four next month, and three-year-old Leah. His youngest son, Beau, just turned one and has already had two surgeries after being born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate - the same condition he was born with almost 32 years ago.
"Everything went really, really well with his surgeries," said Bighill. "The doctor is happy with the procedures and he's doing fantastic. Eventually he'll have at least one more surgery, which will be a bone graft, but that won?t be until he's around six or eight years old and there's the potential for revisions to be done, but those are on a case-by-case basis. So, we'll see what the future holds but as of right now he's doing extremely well.
"Every year it's important to be thankful for the things we have. I think about Beau... he's a healthy boy. So many people don't have healthy children. I've seen and visited those kids at the hospital. Those are tough times, but they help put things into perspective......"
The rest of Ed Tait's article is
here!