Gotta love Vince!

Last night, Brent and I attended the Vince Gill charity concert he does each year for the Children's Advocacy Center here in Chattanooga. (A group that provides services for victims of child abuse that Brent helped start here.) And we were in for a surprise! Vince came with Emmy Lou Harris and Rodney Crowell! Just the three of them...sitting on stage with their guitars. While it was not the polished, smooth performance given last year when Vince performed with his band, it was amazing to see such successful lead performers play and sing back-up for each other...and just have an almost impromptu jam session right in front of you. Super cool and for a good cause.

Brent joked before we left the house that we had a much better dinner before heading out than we had last year...steak, black beans with garlic, broiled tomatoes with Parmesan, and an avocado salad...since I was still on pureed slop due to being only days post a melanoma induced tonsillectomy at that time.  When I mentioned this, Kik responded that she hated that so many of my memories were marred by unfortunate dealings with melanoma.  I know she is the sweetest, advocate for me and meant only that she hated what I had been through...but it got me thinking.  That is really not how I look at the past 8 years of my life.  Brent and I had a wonderful night last year and experienced music that has colored this past year beautifully.  He was dead set on going this year because of that. I mean it when I say that Ruthie and I had SOOOOOO much fun on our Tampa runs.  I had such an incredible day, watching Brent snap pics of Rosie and her friends before prom...which was only days before I was scheduled to have my head zapped and lung removed.  I do not have amnesia.  I remember every bit of post-op pain from every procedure.  I remember the fear and anxiety.  I remember the sadness and worry that my condition created in those I love.  Yet, while there has been plenty of that in the past 8 years...it in no way diminishes or dims the fun I've had, the laughs (and tears) I've shared, the joy I've felt in love, the pride I've felt in my children, and the success I feel after every day. If I could make melanoma evaporate from my life and the world....I would do it in a heartbeat.  But, despite all its horrors, it will NOT mar everything...I can't let it....otherwise....what would be the point?  I know what is important.  Small pains, lumpy legs, white spots, leaking gutters, daily aggravations, and melanoma?????? A pain in the ass?  YES!  Really important in the overall scheme of things?  Not remotely. - c