Hello once again, ladies and gentlemen. It has been just over a month since I last wrote here, so there is much catching up to do. One thing I've noticed about aging, is that I don't have as precise a grip on time as I once had. Perhaps in young life there are so many milestones that are predictable, but after a certain point you gotta make it up as you go. Or perhaps years run together quicker than they once did. Tom Green wrote something about this in his book Hollywood Causes Cancer, which was profound enough to cause great thought, and be too long to summarize here.
I believe it's time to do a little catch-up.
After Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, some things happened that were quite unexpected. And some things that were a great relief. We all went over there, and kind of mapped it out. One of the things she told me was to be strong for her.
A little background - given the specifics, I'm highly confident in Mom's ability to recover and beat this thing. So going in that is where I was strong. But coping with loved ones who are sick doesn't exactly have an instruction manual. For a time, there was a lot of miscommunication, like the extended family, and friends were a team, but we weren't all on the same page, and I wasn't strong. And for the most part, now we are on the same page. We communicated.
She's cancer free now, which is awesome, but there are additional steps that are going to take a while to ensure this cancer stays on the curb, where it belongs.
I've had some other personal challenges lately, and it's really been difficult this summer to deal with them and figure things out and where all this is going. The day after we got home from the reunion trip, my car's A/C went out, and wasn't repaired for over a month. And folks, it's hot here. It's been 100 and dry nearly every day.
A few weeks ago, Grace started breathing really hard and we didn't know if she had gotten asthma, so we both went in to an allergist to get some things started. More appointments to determine what's going on are scheduled and in the works.
Last week Grace broke her elbow playing tag with some kids at Burger King. We went to the ER right after it happened, and she's been seeing doctors ever since. Jamie's had to take off work, and we've had much help from the family on both sides to help take care of her this last week.
School started yesterday, though, and Grace loves it. She's much happier this year, with her teacher, and actually having different teachers throughout the day.
The routine is new, and it's a relief really from the summer doldrums.
It's been a really crazy last couple of weeks, and it's just now starting to feel like real life again. It's as if we've been on a different planet where nothing makes any damn sense, and we're finally figuring out where to be and when, and what to do once again.
During some of this turmoil I received some priceless advice - and that is, the only way to create a good thing is by first speaking it into existence. If you know me, you know I clam up sometimes and don't want to say anything and just sit there until the storm is over.
Even if it is hard, answers do have to be spoken. Or maybe even, written. But lately, I've tried speaking to things and it isn't aggressive or anything, and mostly to myself, but it does mean something. I'm speaking to life right now, and I hope it is listening.
All I can say now is that I hope peace comes your way. You've read this far, haven't you? Speak to life, and tell your worries as well as your hopes what your story is, because they have to listen. Let em battle it out afterwards; you'll be backstage getting your next story together.
