The Glass is Half-Full

I have been reading through the blog entries for John's caringbridge site and am marveling that it was only a year ago we were on that awful cancer journey. In a way it seems like so much longer - especially when I look at the Patient Patient and see just how wonderfully handsome and healthy he looks! John still has periodic visits with the docs in A2 and prior to each we are both a little nervous that the docs might find something. He calls after each visit and we breathe a sigh of relief when the docs declare that all is clear! We know patients that went through treatment at the same time haven't received the same news; our concerns are grounded in reality and our sense of relief immense. In the past year, we have heard of far too many people that have received a diagnosis of cancer - prostrate, breast, throat, etc. While the type of cancer may be very different, the family's reaction and the ultimate course of treatment may vary greatly. The family and loved ones go

Who does that song? The one with the lyrics - "Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking into the future"? It's the song that continues to play in mind today. I've attended the graduation open house of my son Matthew's dearest friend, Kyle, today. While there I saw the elementary school principal, a teacher or two and a boatload of friends. It made me realize that no matter how hard I try to maintain the status quo ~ life continues. Not only can I vividly recall my children as young children, I can recall many of their friends. It's  bittersweet this time passage thing because we, as parents and adults, can recall these graduating 'children' as children. At this open house, my daughter's first grade teacher recalled Delaney as a six year old lover of books and told tales out of school that brought back the memories of my daughter at that time in her life. Shortly after that conversation,  I watched her rehearsal for the concert/performance/f

As I was vacuuming this morning, my mind began to wander to times past - some considered less than funny at the time. Not true this morning as I laughed out loud. And I thought, "hindsight might be twenty-twenty, but it can also be funny-funny". I know I'm not alone in this thought - we often hear at those less than funny moments that one day we will laugh at 'this' (whatever the 'this' is). Especially when we're parenting young children and they do something incredibly irritating to their parent. In public. In the afternoon. On a hot, humid day spent at the beach. When the child and parent haven't had a nap. And the child can't stop saying something totally inappropriate for a three-year old that he just heard his parent say in frustration at the d*** driver that just cut her off on her way to the grocery store to get the milk her d*** hubby forgot to get the night before. So this adorable preschooler, sitting in the grocery cart starts to s