I know I've been gone for a hella long time. Here's what's been going on at the casa:
- Biggest news, my dad passed away August 31. He was pain-free and surrounded by my stepmom and uncle (my dad's little brother) so for those things I am thankful. Being familiar with Hospice as I am I knew that I couldn't be guaranteed to be at his side but I didn't want my stepmom to be alone. We're slowly returning to the new normal. It's hard. Just when you think you're doing well, BAM you're reading a book and one of the lead characters dies of cancer and you're a blubbery mess for the rest of the day. My refrain through all of this has been "this cancer shit fucking sucks balls" and it still does.
- On the plus side I got a new job! Once again in a different area of social work. Not as huge of a jump as my last transition but still different. I guess back in grad school when I told my advisor that I wanted to "sample from the buffet of social work" I wasn't kidding. I'm hoping this will be a little more of a family-friendly job. For the first time I'm going to be contained in one building all day. I'm not sure how I'll handle this but I welcome the challenge.
- A is sleeping in a "big girl bed". We were going to do this in July but with everything going on and running back and forth between my parents and home I didn't want to throw anything else on top of her. So we did it a few weeks ago and she's adjusting well! Knock on wood.
- She's also potty learning! I wasn't ready to get all that going but daycare said she was ready. About 3 weeks ago we had her in underwear the whole weekend and she didn't use the potty the whole time (FAIL!). But on Monday at daycare (oh, daycare, I lvoe you) she had 1 accident and on Tuesday she had 0! I won't say she's completely done because we're still having accidents but she's doing well during the day!
- S joined the school choir and the safety patrol. This means he has to be at school super hella early in the morning on Thursdays but my new job is 10 minutes from his school so it's not so bad, right?
- E is looking for a new job. After a legnthy decision making process he decided he wants a management position and is ready to actively seek one.
So I hope to be back, I've got a couple of posts waiting to be published so I'll be here for now, k?
My cousin's cancer-related death is what got me into doing the Relay For Life. Find out when the one in your area is (I can send you the main website, and then you can locate one near you), and even if you can't join a team or volunteer, at least plan to go. There are fun things to do for kids, and if possible, be there when they do the luminaria ceremony. Ours is around 9pm or 9:15 pm. It includes a memory lap that is done in silence. It's very moving, and the Relay is so much fun! Or see if there is a Kidney Walk (like the one in Lakeland) near you. Helping these organizations makes it feel like (at least to me) that the person you're honoring did not die in vain. Their legacy continues as money is raised for research and to help others affected by cancer or disease to get the treatments they need. I enjoy doing these kinds of events anyway :-)
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