flashback friday... (hope floats)

when i was a little girl,

i remember thinking

a monster lived under

my bed.

i don't know what brought

about that fear,

but i definitely had it.

when it was bedtime,

 i vividly recall

running from our dining room

through our living room

to the doorway of my bedroom,
digging my tiny toes
into the mingled shag carpet
beneath my feet,
pushing off,

and gliding through the air

into my bed

so that whatever it was
dwelling

beneath my bed

wouldn't grab my ankles!

fortunately,
my michael jordan moves
were too much for
my monster;
and,
even more fortunately,
he didn't move with us
when we left that house.

i never
even 
had 
to
give 
that 
monster 
a 
name.

~@~

there is a monster,
however,
who apparently 
is much quicker 
and who has
a much longer wing-span
than my monster did.

this monster 
is a ninja.
he moves quickly...
quietly.
he is everywhere
at the same time.
this monster
has the longest arms and tightest 
grasp of all!
he is neither
picky nor choosy.

and...
just try to move away from him!

his name?

cancer!  

~@~

it is time for relay for life again.

tonight hendersonians will gather together to walk in honor of those living with and those who have overcome cancer.  as well, they will walk in memory of those who have lost their fights, respectively, to this monster.
the hope is that the moneys raised will result in finding a cure.
the following is my post from two years ago...
~@~
6-14-2011
as a believer, i always have hope.
God is the grounds for hope...
for believing good can happen.
God is also the grounds for knowing...
He will make good of that we give over to Him.
believing gives us hope.
belief prepares us for and supports us through the worst
with the knowledge that God is good always!

i have passed these beliefs on to katherine.

~@~



months ago when it was time for katherine to order graduation invitations, she chose to forgo doing so. she said she didn't want to send them because she didn't want people to think she was asking for something (other than their presence at her commencement) in return. after a little brainstorming, i went back to her and explained that if she didn't send out invitations there would be those who would think they were overlooked. i made a proposal to her. i told her that she could put an insert in each of her pre-printed invitations, and on it she could make her intentions known. she was happy with the idea.

hence, she decided to request only the gift of the recipients' presence at her ceremony and to give those who insisted on gifting an option.

~@~

before katherine was even 10 years old, she lost 2 people to whom she was very close to cancer. a third was diagnosed and given only a 2% chance of surviving more than 5 years. so, the summer before her tenth birthday, she started actively participating in our local relay for life. that year she walked in memory of her uncle gary and dear friend, ernie, and in honor of her uncle stevie who was in the battle of his life...
for his life.

respectively, cancer robbed her of the man who she spent countless hours with out on his pontoon on his beloved lake misty. cancer robbed her of the man with whom she visited, shared candy corn, and whom she thought was her granddad. further, cancer was attempting to rob her of her uncle stevie with whom she went on most every vacation and celebrated every holiday.

she loved these men with all her heart...

~@~

over the next five years, cancer took katherine's great-uncle bill
and jack, her neighbor... her best buddy.
however, uncle stevie, beat the odds; he was in the 2% that survived!

~@~

even through loss, katherine continued to hope.
she continued to walk for a cure.

~@~

the option upon which she decided was a great one in her opinion.

on her invitation inserts, she wrote:

only the gift of your presence is requested.
however, you may make a contribution to alcan/rio tinto's
relay for life in memory of my uncles:
gary berrong
bill manion
or
steve hurd.
love, katherine

you may have noticed that steve hurd was listed as in memory of instead of in honor of...
katherine's uncle stevie died a week to the day before she received her graduation announcements in the mail...

he won the cancer battle but lost the war of life.

~@~

friends and family were very generous, so generous in fact, katherine was able to donate enough money to purchase more than 60 luminaries! she donated her own money for luminaries in memory of ernie and jack.

kat was thrilled she was able to pay her gifts forward to a great cause...
the search for a cure for cancer!


love and God's blessings,
dani xxx

throwback thursday... (walking)

katherine walking at 9 months...

i say,

"a child should never walk

before her brain starts working;)"

love and God's blessings,

dani xxx