FRVR17
plus a little bit of:
Big CCC Act News; "Brain Tumors Suck" Gear; BK; May; Dandelions
In general, this is perhaps the.most.all.over.the.place.entry I've ever ever ever posted. Bear with me, and thank goodness for color. :) ... Although, on 2nd thought the different colors only accentuate the fact that I'm rambling. Oh well.
Don't forget ... IT'S STILL BRAIN TUMOR ACTION WEEK. I've posted the full text of H Res 1124 here. Please read and consider contacting your representatives, urging them to become a sponsor.
In other PSA news ... a NEW UPDATE FOR TEAM UNITE is now available. I got this in an email from Dianne this morning:
Hello Team Unite!
Since our strategies started in February, 13 cosponsors for S 911 and 28 for HR 1553 have signed on as cosponsors. Thank you to all of our Team Unite volunteers for your contribution in what Team Unite has done to help make this happen! So many of you do so much to raise awareness and it is making a huge impact so thank you for what you are doing in this unified effort!
HUGE UPDATE: Conquer Childhood Cancer Act Renamed; APPROVED BY HOUSE COMMITTEE!!!!!!!
From the CureSearch site:
What is next? The bill is now ready for consideration on the House floor. The Senate version (S 911) has also passed out of committee and is ready for consideration on the full Senate floor.
None of this advocacy success would be possible without your continued support. The childhood cancer community has a strong and passionate voice, and is using it well.
That's pretty awesome!!! OK, on to my update if I ever can get it posted ....
Good morning, all.
It's 5AM on May 9.
A month and 7 hours before the "anniversary" of Jessica's death. If I had more time (and honestly, more inclination), I think I'd campaign Webster's to add a new word to the dictionary to define the yearly passing of a date of death. Anniversary surely isn't appropriate.
I seriously do NOT understand the workings of TIME in this situation. It's IMPOSSIBLE to explain (I've seen many try), but it literally feels like it's been BOTH 11 years and only 11 days since she's been gone. Doesn't feel like 11 months; that's both too short and too long at the same time. Within a few months, she'll have been GONE for longer than she was SICK ... now THAT seems impossible.
May's always been a pretty important month in my family. Yesterday would've been my daD's 72nd birthday; instead he's "forever 69" .... OK, pardon my distraction here, but I just noticed something whacky about the number 69 ... I was born IN 69; my daD died AT 69; Jessica died ON 6/9. Weird. Wonder what it means, if anything? (Update: I just noticed that when I posted this entry, the number of site hits was 111169 (11:11 69) ... freaky, and kinda cool.)
Sunday is my oldest brother, Ralph's birthday (Happy Mother's Day, Ralph!! :)) ... I can remember sometimes my daD's birthday would fall on a Mother's Day, and instead of a birthday card, I'd buy him a Mother's Day card. Guess you kind of had to know my daD and understand my situation back then to get the humor of all of that. By the way, for those of you wondering ... my daD spelled his name backwards. :)
My nephew's b-day was on May 2 (Happy Late B-Day, Jonathan!) ... My niece, Erika (Little Kailey Catherine's Mom) will be 18 on May 18 ... Jake will be 17 on May 21 ... daD died on May 19 ... Jessica was diagnosed on May 25 ...
So, some pretty spectacular days and some ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE days. The month of May pretty much sums up the story of my life!
Jake got a JOB! I'm so thrilled. He's now an employee of Burger King! I honestly was surprised at how hard it was for him to find a job. I always thought that fast food restaurants pretty much hired 24/7. Not true ... It's been HARD!! So, Jake went in for "training" on Wednesday for 8 hours. Turns out that training consisted of sticking him in front of the cash register by himself for 8 hours. lol ... I don't think that's entirely the case, but apparently he spent most of the day waiting on customers. He said it was OK.
He worked 5 hours yesterday and when I picked him up, he said his BACK HURT!!! oy ... Not quite 17 and his back hurts. Although, 8 hours is a long time to be on your feet, followed by 5 the next day ... ESPECIALLY considering he's been a relatively stationary teen for the past few years. He skates and walks all over town and stuff, but I think that just STANDING like that for hours at a time would definitely make one a bit sore. He doesn't quite **get** the whole break thing yet and he hasn't asked about it. So hopefully today, his 3rd day, he'll ask some questions.
He said that some of the people that come in there to order food are really nice, and some are incredibly mean and demanding. I told him that's pretty much how the world works ... I look forward to watching him grow and mature through this experience.
He can take his GED test after he gets 40 hours of work in. He's been ready to take it for weeks, but had a really hard time finding a job (there's a required job component to the GED program ... can't remember if I mentioned that before or not). He's also really close to finishing up his online driving course. That's a HUGE undertaking right there; with I think 10 modules, quizzes, tests. There are also workbooks you have to fill out and upload. It's quite a bit of work, and I think he's on Module 8 now, so he's been making pretty good progress. Once he's finished that he needs the behind-the-wheel stuff then I guess ... **sigh** ... he'll be driving.
Speaking of driving ... I'm retiring my HYDSTR license plates. I've had them for nearly 10 years now. I've been playing around with different things on the DMV's website (thank goodness you can do that, it's pretty cool). I was trying variations of "PUNKY/PUNKIE/PUNKKY" ... or "JESSICA/JESICA/J3SSICA" (ditched that pretty quickly, though because JESSICA was taken and I didn't want to spell her name wrong. That would've bugged the crap out of me). So, instead I chose to misspell the word FOREVER ... I got FRVR17, on the "butterfly heritage" plate. I can't wait for them to get here.
I made some new designs for CafePress. Since it's Brain Tumor Action Week, I thought it'd be a good time to offer "BRAIN TUMORS SUCK" shirts, mugs, buttons, etc. I also have plans for a "Support Pediatric Brain Tumor Research" collection, so stay tuned for that.
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I spoke to Crystal yesterday, and things have gotten pretty hairy with Shorty. They just got home from a nearly 2-week hospital stay. What started out as a stent-replacement surgery turned into chaos. The tumor on his liver is back in full force, and now he's apparently got either a blood clot or a tumor in the lower part of his heart. Oncologist swears it's a blood clot; cardiologist swears it's a tumor ... What's up with that? It's in a place they can't get to through catheterization, and he's certainly not up for open heart surgery at this point. Now the stem cell transplant doc down in Richmond is saying that he's no longer eligible for the procedure, with the new heart condition. But, they're campaigning and have a number of docs campaigning for them, as well. Crystal was basically told to call the family in to say their goodbyes a couple weeks ago ... But now Shorty's back home and apparently repaired their weed-whacker the other day!!! He's on a new chemo that's typically used for pancreatic and lung cancer, so continue the prayers PLEASE!!
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I'll be busy this weekend. Lots to do for Relay for Life!! I'm nearly done with DESIGNING the Wall of Courage, but I still need to get the posters printed, and figure out a layout for the tent display itself. Fun little tidbit: There's a "womanless beauty contest" during the Relay, and I think I've got several of Jessica's guy friends willing to do it!!!!! HAAHAHAHA!! YAY! The camera's gonna be BUSY!! :) Our local Relay event has raised over $100,000.00 so far, which I think is absolutely AMAZING!!!!!
Mark's down at the beach, getting in some serious fishing time. He's switching jobs soon (same company, MUCH MUCH MUCH closer location -- brand new shop in Warrenton; 15 minutes away!) ... But, anyway ... He wanted to get in as many long weekends as he could, because once he starts at the new place, his schedule will be kind of screwy for a while.
Well, it's actually after 8AM 9AM now ... my Internet's been down all morning (massive storms last night around here) ... so I finally broke down and got on dial-up so I could post this and GET BACK TO WORK!!! oh.my.goodness.dial-up = so.not.fun.
Happy Friday, everyone. Similar to Christmas last year, I'm skipping Mother's Day this weekend ... but I'd like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there. And, extra special wishes for the Mothers of Angels. My heart is with each and every one of you. Please take some extra time to read the poem below ... THANKS ANN!!!!
Randall out.
~Heide
PS—Don’t forget: Please pray for these warriors!!! (click for list)
PSS—CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST TEAM UNITE UPDATE. Don't forget that it's never too late to send a letter to your representatives and senators, urging them to become co-sponsors of the Conquer Childhood Cancer Act. The letter is even written for you for the most part. Of course, you're urged to personalize it in some fashion, but that's up to you. All you do is put in your zip code, and it will pull up the contact information for your local elected officials. It's seriously almost as easy as just clicking the "send" button. Just one click each (one for the House, one for the Senate). That'd be REALLY REALLY cool, and thanks to whoever does it.
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I saw this poem on ^^Taylor^^'s site, so I thought I'd look it up and post it here, as well (hope you don't mind, Ann!! Thank you for sharing it!) :)
Dandelions From Heaven
Mothers Day is coming...and I wanted to send you a sign...
Something you can tell others..."Is from an angel of mine".
So I searched the Heavens high and low for that perfect thing.
And low and behold I found it....and a smile I hope it will bring.
So when you look to the Heavens...and see the yellow stars in the sky...
Just think of me...your angel... in the Heavens way up high...
And just imagine those stars...are dandelions up above...
Yes! Dandelions are also in Heaven...,which you know how much I love.
So on this Mothers Day... when you awake and feel blue...
You will notice those yellow stars...are no longer in view...
So just look to the meadows and the dandelions you see....
Are the ones I've tossed down this Mothers Day from me!
And when you find a dandelion that has turned from yellow to white...
You're supposed to make a wish...and then blow with all your might.
For you will be blowing kisses... to me in Heaven above....
And I will be catching them and blowing them back...sent with all my love.
Please know that I am with you...on this Mothers Day...
And also in the days ahead...God and I will never stray...
We will be with you in the morning...when you wake and see the sun..
We will be with you when you say your prayers...when the day is done.
For God and I will never be...very far from your side...
For I can now be everywhere...and God will be your guide...
So...remember when you see dandelions...its your guarantee...
That I am alway close to you....
For dandelions are free to roam.....now just like me.
I will always be with you Mom....
Happy Mothers Day
Love, Your Angel in Heaven.
Copyright © May 2001 Written by:
Laura/Heavenly Lights Childrens Memorial
Library of Congress TX5-627-966
