Let’s focus on the flower girls

Honestly?  It has been bit rough on the Jen-front lately.  This chemo (which I am still grateful for and happy to be on) is kicking my butt in terms of energy and feeling well.  I have next-to-nothing left after parenting, and it hasn’t felt like I’m doing that particularly well.  My best cancer friend died last week (which makes everything else pale in comparison), but I know she wants me to live fiercely.  My phone crap-tastrophe still grates at me as I work to resolve it.  It’s not isolated to me: my parent’s neighbors may have thought they were putting in a pool, but — alas — they had a basement water leak that required trenching to fix.  And their fridge coincidentally died the same day.  Speaking of fridge’s, something brown spilled down the entire length of my fridge–the one I deep cleaned like two weeks ago.

Phew, I sound like a whiny mess.  Even as I write it, I know things really aren’t that bad.    I am working on rising above and moving on.  This week it’s just hard because hits keep coming, and I’m admitting it.

Today I walked in to the oncology office knowing I would get the results of blood tests they did last week.  The combination of my bad mojo this week and my emotions running high was giving me some anxiety on the drive in.  Handling anything but a stellar bloodwork report seemed intimidating.

Thus, I’m very relieved to report I got a perfect zero on my cell search test (there were no circulating cancer cells in my blood sample).  The meaning behind the test from Dr. Wonderful is that this is a good number and indicates relative stability in my tumors.  Today, stable is good.  I needed a perfect zero today, and I pray it is indeed indicative of stable or even regressive cancer.

Quickly, quickly, my perspective is righted on what is important.

This past weekend was a great one… my cousin got married so it was a big family weekend.  It was Greta’s first flower girl experience… big sister Maren has played the role a few times, so there was much coaching and words of wisdom from big sister to little sister in the lead up to the big day.  It is fun to see the generations of our family meld.

As I was combing photo archives yesterday, I realized I accidentally did their hair the same for five-year-old Greta and four-year-old Maren, and I was surprised at the sisterly resemblance they demonstrate when you put the photos side-by-side.

Greta, 2016.  Maren, 2011.

Greta was a delightful flower girl and a perfect compliment to the beautiful bride.  I was so proud of her!   Both girls were charming, enthusiastic and graceful: well done girls!

**On my way to chemo today, I stopped by and had my phone provider activate an old phone so I can talk/message while I sort out what to do with my dead phone.  I’m missing some messages though (old phone glitches?), so you may want to try hitting me from multiple angles if you need me for anything timely over the next few days/weeks and/or if I don’t get back to you.  Let’s say I at least have one foot back on the grid.