Every day is precious. I treasure every opportunity to choose life and have more time in the world with the people that I love and who love me. At Christmas time I just try to spend more time with people that mean something to me and are special.

The best part of the holidays for me is the uninterrupted time I get with my friends and my family … It's just getting that time in, and since cancer, that time just feels so much more precious, and everything else falls away, other than that time that I get to spend with my friends and my family.

I listen to the sounds … the clinking of glasses as people celebrate. Most important are the voices, the steady hum of conversation, the laughter, the sound of surprise as something is shared or discovered. I sit quietly and take it in. I smile as these sounds envelop me and listen to my inner voice that shares, "Take it in, Michael because this is life. This is life.

What's been sustaining me during this period is so much love, and I'm drawing from other cultures and friends from other backgrounds.

So another Thanksgiving has come and gone. I'm very thankful to be with my family, my loved ones. But at the same time it was a tough time for me ... I do often wonder what happens next year, two years, three years from now. Will I still be around? But as much as possible I do try to be thankful for the people around me.

How do I make a resolution? How do I make a plan? How do I set goals but at the same time realize that so much is out of my control?" So the new year, for me, brings a lot of gratitude and also some anxiety around, jeez, what am I going to do next? What is my life going to look like this year?

I think for everybody the holidays are a stressful time, everyone's trying to get presents and parties and people have expectations of the holidays and I think for a lot of people, you set it up to be such a great time … it's also a very emotional time, I think, because you are reflecting on things.