Reminders

This month has been so full of reminders.

Reminders of how much I love and care about people in my life.

For Family Home Evening the day after Mary's birthday, the kids picked out balloons and wrote messages to their Gramma Berry and Cousin Benjamin. We attached them to the ribbon and visited the Angel Garden where Benjamin was laid to rest.

We got to see his headstone for the first time. It's beautiful. And while being there is a solemn experience for me, my children are always so full of joy and life at the cemetary. I'm glad for that. I just don't want them to forget the sacred nature of remembering our late loved ones.

I'm so glad they remember both Mary and Ben. I hope they don't ever forget them.

That same weekend my friend Laurel sent an e-mail to our book club requesting to meet with all of us if possible. We settled on a time after a few e-mails back and forth. I was expecting something like a new job...or she's met a new guy...or something. Instead,  Laurel dropped a bombshell on the Bookettes.

 She was going in for breast cancer surgery Friday the 13th.

She was so calm about it that while the emotionally high-strung inner self of mine wanted to weep and wail, I couldn't. So I didn't.  It hits so close to home in so many ways, but mostly, I just felt so BUMMED for her. Cancer is a major disruption in one's life. Fortunately fighting it is an option, but it's a long road. I know, who am I to talk that it's a long road? Not me. But I've watched it. And I'm watching it with my friend across the street. And now sweet Laurel. She's been so strong, so optimistic and so matter-of-fact about it. That's how she IS, so I'm not sure if I would expect anything else from her-- but it's just so hard to say what we'd expect from anyone if they were given life-altering news.

It may seem weird, but I really wanted to take a photograph of this day. I felt like it was an important one to document in our book club history. We've all been through stuff, and this was certainly no exception.  I have a secret love for reading fictional novels about book clubs or gal-pal groups whose friendship spans a few decades. In EVERY single blasted book one of the gals gets cancer. I never thought that we would be following suit. Blast.

Here she is, donned in pink (pink ring, earrings, pink rose pin, pink pinstripes in her classy black suit AND a pink bowl in which she brought her frog-eye salad in for all of us to enjoy at lunch. YUM.

I love this girl!

Here we are on Friday the 13th, wearing pink in support of our Laurel.  Forunately surgery went well and she seems to be recovering nicely.

I know it's just the beginning for her, but so far she's off to a great start.

And finally...

 I know I'm always talking about how much I love my neighbors, but recently I have been reminded just how much I adore these people. Almost 3 weeks ago Mr. Dick went to the hospital complaining of chest pains. The next morning he went in for a quadruple bypass. He's 86 years old and if a man can be in "mint" condition, this guy is. He works out at the gym, golfs, gardens. He is in excellent health. Minus that terrible problem that one of his arteries was completely blocked and the other one was 80% blocked. I'm so grateful he went into the hospital when he did. Had he waited much longer, the sweet man might not be with us. 

The kids adore our neighbors and were equally concerned. At night they started calling him "Dick" instead of "brother Hawkins" in their prayers to bless him to get better. We had to explain that Kyle and I could call him by his first name, but they couldn't.  It was cute though.

Fast forward to last Sunday. Kyle was bringing sweet Libby home from visiting Dick who was recovering and she told him she had been having some pressure on her chest. After he dropped her off at home he came home and told me I should go check on her. I knocked on her door and she didn't look too good. And she mentioned some chest pain. I don't like to mess around with chest pain so I told her we were going to the urgent care. She didn't put up a fight--which is rare for this sweet gal because she is always so concerned about being a bother to people that she usually says "Oh, I'll be alright."  

Once we arrived at the urgent care and Miss Libby explained why she was there, they ushered us straight to a room without even filling out paper work. The nurse took her blood pressure and started asking if Libby had various other symptoms, to which Libby did.

Her blood pressure was extremely high and the sweet nurse told us we needed to go straight to the ER. So that we did. Libby was so mad at herself. Like she had control over her blood pressure!  She kept saying "I'm going home TONIGHT and I am NOT going to have heart surgery."  Aside from the serious nature of the ER visit, I had fun hanging out with Miss Libby in that hospital room. She's so full of energy. We said a prayer together in her little hospital room and that prayer was answered. She was put on medication and responded to it wonderfully. Now is it a coincidence that when her sister shared the news that Huntsman was out of the Republican Presidential race and was endorsing Mitt that her blood pressure dropped significantly?  Ha! Ha!  The doctor informed us that according to her chest x-ray and blood work that there was no sign of heart trouble and no need for surgery. I was relieved to say the least, as was Dick and her family. It was so cute seeing her with her son and sister who came to the ER to visit her with their spouses. 

Today they were outside enjoying the gorgeous non-January-like weather and I saw Miss Libby and Mister Dick walking. They just looked so adorable that I had to run inside and grab the camera. I asked if they'd let me take a picture and before I could take the lens cap off the camera, Mister Dick was pulling a comb out of his pocket and smoothing out his silver hair. Adorable! 

Here is the lovely couple. 

84 and 86 never looked so good, did it?