Steps, Family, and Sharing the Love

I ran into this quote the day after David and I went on a college visit to a University. It was quite cold and windy that afternoon. There was a huge stairway to the entrance of the Library with many steps up. I stood there and looked up, David says, “You can do it Mom…just take one step and a time.” of course, I took his advice and made it to the top.

You can see that the steroids have been taking their toll on me since July…eating away at my weight and muscle tone. I raised five kids and was always in shape. So needless to say, this has been difficult on me.

My life has taken quite a turn since I was diagnosed with the Brain METS in July. The last couple of weeks have been full of new issues created by the steroids of course. I started a new chemo therapy in December. This opens a new jar of side effects including fatigue, nausea, low potassium, low white blood cell count and the list goes on and on. A week later, I had an unscheduled needle biopsy. I have grown a new tumor on my sternum so we had to do a biopsy to find the makeup of the tumor as it was the only thing growing after I took the first dose of the new chemo.

Then the next week, I had cataract surgery on both eyes (in the same Day!) The steroids had caused them. I was reminded how young I was to be having this done as I sat in the waiting room full of retired folks. I asked Levi if I had turned 78 or 48 on my recent birthday. I am recovering from everything now. It has been a slow process but I’m working on it.

On the bright side, Christmas was full of blessings with my college kids home. We had a wonderful time together. I had two gifts for them that were total hits! First, I created framed 24x36 United States maps with push pins to mark everywhere in the US they had been, Most of them have been to 42 of 50 states so we did a lot of pinning (picture above). Yes they sell these DIY maps online but they are over $200 each. I created the 6 for us for under $200! They loved them, and it was so fun to talk about all of those vacation memories.

Next we went to go look at the house we lived in for 7 years. No one lives there anymore. We had not stepped foot in there in 13 years. We were all so surprised to see that they had not painted the two bedrooms the kids used. I had painted the barn. All four boys shared the room with two sets of bunk-beds and a crib. It was exciting to listen to them talk about their memories there. David and Lydia did not remember much but still enjoyed.

Happy New Year from our family to yours.

I love the quote about because I believe this is so true. So many people have been helpful and giving to me and my family, I only hope that I can continue to do the same for others.

Yours truly,

Lori