The Value of Family

Did anyone but me notice the rather odd fact that since May 9th, I blogged not only about my mother but also about death? And then I find out my mom has this wacky rare cancer. (The CT scan showed it is in her lymph nodes and that there is a mass near her heart. She's having a more conclusive PET scan done on June 2nd.)  Of course, this whole thing has made me once again take stock of what I value in this world...and here on earth, I can't think of anything more important to me than family (with good friends being an extremely close second!!!). I was just telling my sister that I am so thankful that all of us kids are so close, despite a huge age difference and so many different personalities.  I have seen too many ugly scenarios with families that just can't get along. (I'm not naive enough to think that some of these situations can't be helped, but it's just so sad to see.)  Anyway....I LOVE my own little family and those in the very large extended one.

Here are some "value" stories, just from the past few days:

When I first told Lee, my youngest, about his gramma, he gave me a big hug old hug, round puppy-dog eyes brimming with tears and then he symbolically put a sunshine-shaped rubber band on my wrist. For those of you without kids, shaped rubber bands are all the rage right now. I had no interest in them...but nowI will be keeping this one on for quite some time.

Abby and I had a long talk after reading a few chapters of Ella Enchanted last night. I love the long night talks with my kids, all snuggled down in bed. It is my opinion that this is when you really find out what's going on inside their hearts. We talked about a myriad of things, from my mom, to marriage, to college to pride. In our kids we see pictures of ourselves. It is good to be open and close enough to share your successes AND failures...to be able to say, "I'm sorry, will you forgive me?" I can't believe she'll be a senior next year!!

When I posted about my mom on facebook, nearly 50 people responded with notes of encourgements and prayer. There's much negative talk about social networking via computer...but I wouldn't trade it at times like this.

And right now the family is watching Anne of Avonlea...well, I THINK all the boys are in there, even though some of them won't admit to liking a chick flick. So I'm off to join them.

Be thankful for your family tonight and cherish every moment. Go make a memory happen...a GOOD memory!! Thanks for reading my blogger friends...69  more to go before we get to 200. Can you get just one more or YOUR friends to sign up??