Colors...

Thinking pink when I'm feeling blue

It's not very often that me, a yellow person, will feel blue but right now, I think I really do. So much sickness, sadness and sorrow.


BLUE:
Recently, my brother-in-law Carl had surgery for a benign brain tumor and had recovered well and was back in St. George in a rehab facility. Saturday night, we received a phone call that he had bleeding on the brain and they were Life Flight-ing him in that evening. They arrived at midnight and we spent hours comforting Paula and waiting to hear what the next step is. They decided that the bleeding was causing the brain to swell and causing him to be tired all the time and not very responsive. They have had him in Neuro Critical Care and have been monitoring him.


Last week I excitedly answered and invitation to join a friend's Facebook page. Upon doing so, she directed me to her blog, which the first post was titled "The Beginning of My Breast Cancer Journey". My heart sunk. This beautiful, 34 year old, happy, athletic young mother of 4 was now battling the beast. Over the last two weeks, she has gone from feeling a tiny lump, to finding out she had several malignant tumors, resulting in bi-lateral modified radical mastectomy (total removal of both breasts) surgery coming up on the 12th.


Other sad notes are; a former mission companion's husband passed away leaving 3 young daughters, a misunderstanding with a friend that makes my heart hurt, the election, it SNOWED yesterday (UGH!) and on and on...



PINK:
My dear friend with cancer is fighting with all she has. Her husband, family, friends and neighbors have all had a fast for her and many thoughts and prayers are being said on her behalf. It was proposed that the day she has her surgery; Nov. 12th, that we wear pink for her. So, if you see me in pink, you'll know why!

YELLOW:
So, for the bright side of things;
Carl is getting better. They have given him meds to reduce the swelling and he actually had therapy yesterday and is responding well. He even wiggled his toes a bit on his left leg! They sent him by ambulance back to St. George today, to the rehab center and are optimistic about his recovery. Paula is in better spirits as well, optimistic about how things are going.

Scott and I have new callings that we are VERY excited about. Scott is the Assistant Varsity Coach, which means he'll work with the 14-16 year old boys. He'll have Cole for another 18 days (Wow! I can't believe he'll be *16* in 18 days!) and Kai will come in after his 14th birthday in June (another wow!). I was called as the 2nd Counselor in the Stake Young Women's Presidency. I'm so excited! We have a wonderful Presidency and I have already felt the Spirit so strong in my setting apart and in our Presidency meetings.

Although I am generally happy and always look at the bright side, these "blue" moments are good for me to reflect. I am so blessed to have a wonderful family; my brothers and sisters and their spouses are wonderful and I am so glad that we are all close. It's pretty amazing to see a family of 6 siblings living in Philadelphia, St. George and throughout the Salt Lake Valley and with an age difference of up to 19 years, that we can all be so close and love each other as we do. We don't live really close to each other, we don't all have the same religious beliefs or the same political views, but we all respect each other and love each other and are close dispite those things. And we love and respect our parents. I don't think there are many families with those dynamics that can say those things. We are very blessed. I still have my wonderful mother with us to enjoy and 83 years old, she is still quite the character and fun to be with! I have a great husband and wonderful sons. We all are healthy and happy. I have the gospel so I know that in these upcoming years as our government changes, I can know that I have a solid rock, a foundation for my security, things that will never change. I have so many things to be thankful for that these little things that might get me down are just that; little things and they will pass.

So, on I go. This has made me feel much better. There is still sickness and sorrow but there is also HOPE! As President Monson said in our last General Conference; "Enjoy the Journey". (So, I'd better go put that laundry away so my family can enjoy their journey too! LOL!)