What I really intended with that statement was a segway into saying it's about time that I post something. Unfortunately, I don't really have anything amazing to write about, and definitely no pictures to go with that lack of amazingness.
A while back--the first week of July to be exact--Aaron and I road tripped to Wisconsin. I brought my camera, and yet I took no pictures. We really just "hung out"--spent some time with all the many family members that were there: Mom and Dad, Ryan and Kim, Dave and Adrienne, and Maggie and Paul (the dogs). If only we could have planned that better and got Stevie out at the same time.
The trip was unlike any trip home I have ever had. First of all, my parents were completely remodeling their bathroom, putting it out of use. That left two bathrooms for 8 people and workers stomping and banging around most of the days.
Then, the day before we were scheduled to begin our trip back, we discovered that this
was infesting my brother Ryan's lungs. That somewhat visually appealing purple mass is Hodgkins Lymphoma. Not so pretty anymore, eh? I was able to stay a little while longer, but Aaron did have to get back to work. He drove the whole way back to Utah by himself! I was really quite scared for him, especially when I called him and he said he had no idea where he was. (His iPhone had lost service, since he decided to rough it and take some random back roads.)
As you might imagine, the trip was full of way more tears than I was expecting, but lots and lots of love, too. Witnessing two of my sweet family members struggle with this mysterious epidemic we know as cancer has added a huge bullet point to reasons why I believe lots of the things I believe.
Like that the most important thing we can do in our lives is to love everyone around us. My dad and my brother are two of my greatest role models for this. Kindness is never a bad thing.
Like that family is really an amazingly wonderful thing, and that our greatest joys and successes come through our families.
Like that there are things in life we can't control, no matter how hard we try, and all we can do is learn to face uncertainties with hope and a smile.
Like that my family will be mine forever.
The day the doctor called with Ryan's pathology report, we all ended up just sitting around the family room shocked, but trying to be happy that at least his cancer was curable. I remember my dad saying lots of profound and comforting things to us all, and I can't express how much I wish I had had some sort of spy recording device to save and remember what he said. One of the things that did stick in this terrible memory of mine was so beautiful that I still am thinking about it. It went something like this:
"I don't know exactly how to explain it or what this means, but somehow, I think the answer is love."
