And the Countdown Begins ~ TEN

TEN!!!! Ten days until my last chemo treatment, hopefully EVER! It's weird, because it feels like I have been doing this FOR-EV-ER, but at the same time it feels like it has gone by pretty quickly. There are still mornings where I wake up and I hope to look in the mirror and find myself with a full head of hair as I realize that this has all been the longest nightmare EVER, but then I think of all of the GOOD that has happened over the past 5 months and I wonder, would I really want to give that up? Sure, I would get rid of this cancer in a heartbeat {and hopefully we HAVE gotten rid of the cancer!}, but I don't want to lose all of the other memories, the sweet ones. I don't want to lose the new friends I have made, all of the lunches and laughing with Shelley while the patients in the other pods probably prayed we would shut the heck up, the time spent at Deanna Rose Farm with Shelley-2 and her sweet boy, watching her help my boys out on the pedal tractors, all of the texts with Jenna and the reassuring messages on Facebook from Cari. I don't want to lose the knowledge that I have probably the best family and friends in the entire world, I mean, I knew it before, but it's set in stone now, never ever to be undone. I don't want to lose all of the meals prepared out of love for our family, all of the care packages from duff, all of the love sent through the mail from friends most of which I have never met, the weekly cards from my Grandma Peggy, all of the nights the boys spent with their grandparents, I know they had so much fun. I don't want to miss out on the shock of Jessica, Aimee, Sara and MaryAnn SHOWING UP and giving me a Labor Day weekend I didn't expect. I don't want to lose all of the simple times my family and I spent together, those trips to the drive-in on "chemo Fridays", falling asleep with the boys in the back of the van as Matt stayed up to watch the second movie, family movie nights at home on our "floor bed", various hotel staycations and the boys' fascination with the "hot-cool" {hot tub}, trips to area festivals, pumpkin patches and the zoo. Sure, some of these things would have happened anyway, but maybe they mean a little bit more now, seem a bit more precious.

So it's with a thankful heart that my family and I want to put some good BACK into the world, after all of the wonderful we have experienced, it only seems right. We will be counting down the ten days to my FINAL {please God, let it be final!} chemo with 10 good deeds over 10 days. I will admit, some of these deeds will be small, but small deeds can sometimes lead to great things. Thank you ALL for your love and support, you have changed our world, by making it a bit better.

 "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has" ~ Margaret Meade

TEN - Picking up trash at the park. The boys were REALLY excited to do this until they thought a tractor was apparently coming to attack them and they started flipping out. Seriously, it was NUTS. I swear I picked up a bit of trash too, but you know, compromised immune system and all. ;~)