I See What You Meme

As the media reeled this week with stories of disaster in Oklahoma, I was especially touched by a story I heard on NPR last Thursday .  The Phillips family knows what it is like to experience loss.  In 1999, they lost their home to another tornado that hit the Moore area.  They rebuilt two miles away only to see their home destroyed by this latest natural disaster.  An aerial view of some of the Moore, Oklahoma destruction. (Source) The entire family is safe and sound. Nobody was hurt. Nobody died. But they have essentially lost everything.  A hall closet filled with linens seems to be the only structure that escaped the scene relatively unscathed.  As I listened to this family speak with cracking voices, you could hear that combination of resilience and sadness that inhabits those who grieve.  Rena Phillips told the NPR reporter, " I ran last time, I'm not running again," she says. "It's like why run? You know I still had a little fear, but God...

Thanks to everyone who commented on the first book excerpt I posted a few weeks ago.  I thought you might enjoy another sneak peek excerpt of my forthcoming book, Four Seasons for Charlotte: A Parent's Year With Pediatric Cancer .   The book will be available on May 15th but you can pre-order now!   If you will be in the Ashland, VA area on May 17th, you are welcome to attend the Book Release Party at Gallery Flux in Ashland from 6-9 PM.  This excerpt is from Chapter 4: Course of Treatment. I also like to refer to this as the "Cancer is a Hurricane" excerpt.  Charlotte turned four on July 9, 2009. Her birthdays had always been cause for celebration, but this year was a bonus beyond measure. Her party was at Romp n’ Roll. We sent out an open invitation to everyone in our support circle: Bring no presents. Just show up, wear Charlotte’s favorite colors (pink and/or purple), and help us celebrate. We had not just one but three birthday cakes donated for th...

Holy Crap, people! Where does the time go?  Ten short days ago, I was celebrating my birthday . I haven't blogged since then.  What's my excuse this time? I ' ve been super busy between my job, CJSTUF , and other assorted tasks.   My godson, Thor Thatcher I also got to make a weekend trip to Roanoke to celebrate my godson Thatcher's first birthday and baptism.  I'm a proud god-mama. Please don't make any surprise visits to my home. I think another hurricane may have hit the house.  I have wanted to write. I have needed to write.  The days have been long and time has been short. I haven't even had time to do much reading lately.   Can anyone relate? For this week's Follow Friday, I'm going to give you a few things to read.  If you're like me, you haven't got a lot of time, so here are some options: If you have a few minutes: Read this post from the Brave Girls Club . I found it through a friend on Facebook.  It spoke to ...

I am writing this post because we are lucky. We never lost power during Irene. We had only a few tree branches come down in our yard. Our front storm door is toast (it was old) and a piece of our fence is down (it was old). Big branch that fell just beside my brother's house. Gutter is bent but all is ok. A few stray limbs fell from the trees. The storm door was flung open by the wind. It shattered in a few places and the glass is gone (still intact but fell off the door) CJ's Butterfly Bush is doing well. She grew a lot this summer. Piece of our fence fell down. One thing we'll need to replace. We are lucky and blessed.   After all the shit that has smacked our lives over the last two years, it's good to feel positive about something.  Irene was a crazy storm and many people have not been nearly so lucky.  At the moment, Roger is trolling the neighborhood with his chainsaw, trying to help others who face significant cleanup ...

What a week this is turning out to be! It started on Monday with Vance and Mark in surgery .  Both are doing well. At last report, Vance (the donor) had been released from the hospital.  Mark's body has taken the new kidney very well and he is on the road to recovery.  Thank you to everyone for the kind words and support for our family over the last few days. Of course, Tuesday saw a whole lot of shakin' going on.  The 5.9 earthquake that rocked Virginia (and much of the East Coast) seemed to cause some structural damage around the area but not a lot of injuries. As far as I know, there have been no reported deaths. All is well...for now.  While the quake was quite the jolt for all of us, I am reminded of how blessed we are when I think of those effected by the Japanese quake back in March. This was a minor inconvenience by comparison. There is no rest for the weary, though, because Irene is on her way.  There seemed to be much debate regarding the exact...

So how was your weekend? I have to admit that all the rapture talk was good for a giggle. Hopefully many of you were able to embrace the idea of living like there's no tomorrow. Unfortunately for some of our neighbors and fellow citizens in Joplin, MO, it was not a happy or relaxing weekend. My thoughts are with those who are currently healing, grieving, and surviving in the midst of disaster.  There was an interesting story on NPR this morning discussing how President Obama is forced to balance priorities when it comes to planned events vs. sudden disasters. It's an interesting predicament: the President has a planned trip to Ireland. Hours before his scheduled departure, the tornadoes hit Joplin, MO. What to do? Stay and manage the crisis "up close" or proceed as scheduled and manage from a distance, reporting for a personal visit upon his return to the States?  This is not a situation unique to the Obama administration. Presidents through the years (in fact,...