Back before my dad was diagnosed with cancer, the words cancer and dying weren’t in my vocabulary. But since he died after his year-long battle (7 1/2 years ago), I seem to jump to cancer and dying with every health drama, little or big.
A few weeks ago my mom called and told me she had a mammogram that showed a lump in her breast and that she had to go in for a biopsy. The doctor called on Thursday to confirm she indeed has breast cancer.
photo by Gi
I have a lot of thoughts racing through my brain but I keep reminding myself how far breast cancer research and treatment has come plus my mom hasn’t seen her doctor yet to discuss her treatment so while cancer is never a great diagnosis, I’m hoping it’s been caught super early.
For as long as I can remember every Christmas my family has made potato and cheese pierogi as part of our Christmas Eve dinner. Making these delicious tatter stuffed pockets isn’t easy, but it’s not exactly hard either…once you beat the dough into submission you’re pretty much set!
This past weekend I shared my pierogi-making skills with a few friends. We drank wine, lots of wine, and mashed, kneaded, rolled, and stuffed our way into polish heaven. I can’t tell you how many we made but it was a lot and they were delicious.
I didn’t have a picture from this weekend, but here a few of my pictures from Christmas pasts…
Be jealous of my skills! No worries though, I’ll share my talent with anyone who wants to learn! (I’m so nice!)
Sometimes I think life would be easier with floaties.
photo by: i can has a cheezeburger
Tonight I was watching Amazing Race (the worlds bestest show ever – I’ve watched all seasons except the stupid family season while was an epic fail) and one of the couples had a girl with extreme fear of heights and water. They lost the race because she couldn’t go down a water slide — I’ll admit I might hesitate before going down. The girl not only let her fears get the worst of her, but she did it with floaties on. I want to know who goes on the Amazing Race and packs floaties? HA!
But floaties remind me of my dad.
Next month it will be seven years since my father died. After so many years, the tears don’t come as quickly as they use too…actually more often than not, what use to make me cry now makes me laugh. My dad couldn’t swim. I remember one vacation when we went to Noah’s Ark — I was relatively young, maybe seven or eight years old. My sisters and I were on the inner tube river and my dad was floating along with us. The water might have been three feet deep and we were all getting out of the tubes and I don’t recall how, why, or anything but my dad fell out of the tube and his glasses fell to the bottom of the river. He panicked. He started flinging his arms around and splashing, screaming he didn’t know how to swim. Oh, we used to joke with my dad about how 3 ft of water almost did him in. I’m pretty sure he stayed on the sidelines the rest of the vacation with a life-vest on.
I tired to find a picture from this vacation but I couldn’t, so instead here is a picture from a vacation about 9 years after the Noah’s Ark adventure. It’s me and my Dad in Arles, France.
and I love this picture even though it makes it look like I have a pixie hair cut…it’s not, it’s pulled back in a pony…and yes my bangs were awesome.
Aiden George
7/16/09
5 lbs 6 oz
18.5 in
9:25 am
I’m pretty much in love already. Can’t wait to watch this lil man grow up!
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