SH#& HAPPENS so GET OVER IT!!!!

This is the title of a little book that I was given recently.  Inscribed inside:  "I think I have heard this before...somewhere...!  Love, Rose"  Hmm, I guess she has indeed.  It seems a rather hardened bit of advice to be given from your mother.  But, there it is.  During rough spots, my kids were petted, favorite dishes cooked. They were flattered and cajoled...but in the end....  You picked the wrong career, college, friend, lover? Didn't work out? Flat tire, speeding ticket, broken heating unit, over flowing toilet?  Life decided to put bird poo on your head?  Really, really, sorry...really.  NOW...get over it!!!!

Despite my own very sage advice, it is not always easy to apply.  Since BEFORE May 20th....I have endured non-stop mouth ulcers.  At the worst, the gums, tongue, lips....are all inflamed with bleeding areas and denuded lesions. Lost 8 pounds with that business.  At the best, there are scattered lesions and a tongue that feels like you sipped a huge gulp of scalding tea.  Along, with that...fun, itchy, but painful, pustular rashes have been scattered about.  PLUS, my right great toe "knuckle" has been pretty consistently red, swollen and painful...enough to wake one from sleep, with random arthralgias, especially in my ankles and knees.  I've had bout enough of this business!!!! 

Work has been particularly challenging.  It has rained almost daily for the past 6 weeks!!  We have had over 12 inches in just the past 2.  My beautiful daises, hostas, lilacs, and tomatoes have moldered!  My roof is leaking.  The air conditioner gave up.  Said, "Forget it!  I'm done!" SHIT definitely happens.

On the other hand....  Last weekend was exquisitely lovely.  I got to meet my pen pal, now dear friend, and his wonderful wife.  Friends from melanoma world for almost two years, and now friends from the real world...forever.  We chatted and chi'laxed.  And, as I already told them, though we spoke of melanoma, what we were dealing with, and where we were with things...it was not our focus.  It did not define us!  It was not what we most wanted to learn and share of each other!!!!  Lives well lived and shared.  Friends indeed.

And then...there is work.  Work that is hard and worrisome and irritating.  But...work that brings a smile and makes me proud. With women that look after me, keep up with me, support me...in all that I try to do for our children and with what I am going through.  Even taking it upon themselves to text Brent when they feel he needs to be aware of how loose my pants have become and that I am not eating enough at lunch in their estimation!!!!  I am there for them as well, for better or worse.  B says, "They are your support. That is why you will never leave."  Maybe so.  That...and the best boss in the world...who grants my vacation requests...and when he gets a bonus check from an insurance company for meeting all their evaluation criteria....what does he do????  Put it in his account?  NO!  He divides it equally among the roughly 50 employees...as an unexpected bonus!  I don't think it gets much better than that.


And, there's my Roo flitting about London as we speak.  Bringing joy by sharing hers.  And, Freddo, who knows exactly how to make me laugh, and carefully checks with his daddy to see how I am doing.  And, poor Ruthie, dealing with a leaky floor...OH yeah...SHIT happens!!!!  But, always making time for me, bringing a smile, letting me jabber, KNOWING me.  AND....SOMEBODY...who risked a great deal of wrath....falling directly upon his noggin head....who rang the door bell....INCESSANTLY....until I answered it...so I could see a beautiful rainbow.

Yep.  SHIT happens.  Get over it!  Cause rainbows and lots of other really great stuff does, too. - c