T + S

Friends, My oldest, T, and his beautiful bride are getting married next weekend.  Big T and I love love love our future daughter-in-law and feel very blessed to have her joining our family. T really out-kicked his coverage with this sweet girl.   We are all so excited for the wedding festivities to begin...and I am so excited for the planning to be finished....

Today I am in rehearsal dinner table assignment hell.  Seating 155 people with others they know and like has been much harder than it looks...it's like a giant tetra game.  Sister No.2  offered this piece of advice when I asked her who should sit where: "What I have learned today from asking around is don't ask around.  Everyone has a different opinion.  So do what you think is best." Ha!  I am just making this up as I go along. Once the party starts and the bar opens, everyone will be best friends anyway, right?  

As the MOTG, I have been told a "few" times  by my four beloved sisters that I am suppose to shut up and wear beige.  But when I stepped into Halls in Kansas City this Spring, I fell in love with this little black dress.

 I will match my boy in his tux...which will look good in the pictures, and I am all about the pictures.  Speaking of looking good for the pictures...the girls and I will be heading to the bride's house before the big event to have our makeup and hair done.  It is going to take a team of professionals to transform my mug into a photo ready face (which is why I wisely cropped it out of the above).  The pros requested that we bring a picture of what we would like our hair to look like.  I am thinking:

Is it too late for me to get hair extensions?  Ha!   

 I am beyond grateful to be here and to be dancing at my sons wedding!  This is the type of event I would visualize when I was going through chemo to help me stay positive and to remind me why I was fighting so hard.   I am so excited to make some wonderful memories with my family all together plus so many friends:  my first friend who walked to kindergarten with me, my high school inner sanctum, my college roommate, MY bridesmaids from 27 years ago, the moms from T's playgroup (we had our babies together...), my prayer group Glories, my neighbor who knows how loud I can yell and likes me anyway, the friends that survived T's high school years  with me,  the mom's that tailgated with us at all the ND football games during T's undergrad years, and the warriors that went into the cancer battle with me.  I am honored and humbled that they all are traveling the distance to be with us and to witness this important event, this sacred celebration, this sacrament that will be blessed by God.  

So next Saturday, on the Feast of the Assumption of  the Blessed Virgin Mary (this painting was our engagement gift to them)....if you need me, I will be on the dance floor.

The Open Space Club

Friends, This weekend we drove down the peninsula to Traverse City to check out the open space at the TC Film Festival. 

What did we find? A breathtaking sunset over Traverse Bay and the "The Breakfast Club" on the big screen.  I had not seen this film since it came out in 1984, and had forgotten how deep it is (and the greatness of the soundtrack).  

I loved the way these high school students helped each other get through a long Saturday of detention...and much more.  

 Kind of takes you back, doesn't it?

As I watched these very young stars in their groovy 80's styles, I thought about some of the people who have stepped up and helped me in my life.  Every mom knows exactly what "Oh, she is a great friend---we had our babies together!" means.  If you're like me, those of you who have been faced with a seemingly insurmountable illness remember every friend who sent you a card, brought your family a meal,  or strolled around the block with you to get a little fresh air...  

It was refreshing to sit amongst a crowd of families and friends to watch a flick with a comforting message: 
no matter if you're a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess or a criminal, we are all good, and we all want to help. That's how I see it....and I am so grateful.

A Great Read

These two are always up for a good time...including walking through the woods when it is too windy on the beach.

I love listening to the wind blow through the trees...it reminds me that the Holy Spirit is always near.

I love listening to the waves pounding on the beach below. It reminds me that a force exists that is much more powerful than me.

  I really am grateful to be able to spend the summer in such a beautiful place....but today...I tuned that all out because I needed to finish "reading" a great book while I walked.

If you can, LISTEN to this book.  Reese Witherspoon rocks this read.

When I was young, I wanted to be Scout, and Atticus was my hero.

Remember this cover?

This is my favorite book of all time.

In "Go Set a Watchman", Harper Lee's secondary theme of a young woman (Scout) coming of age really hit close to home for me.   I have kids that are, as they should be, "coming of age", ...and it just might kill me.  But that is another post for another day....

Big Boys and Banana Bread

This sweet darlin' grew up way too fast.....

He has been studying all summer for his Med School Step 1. Yeesh.....

He studies, I pray.  

He studies, I text encouraging quotes like  Winston Churchill's "If you're going through hell, keep going."   Dory's "Just keep swimming." St Paul's "I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me." and, of course, my original "I love you and am so proud of you. Hang in there."

He has one week left before he takes the test.... so I am pulling out the big gun now: 

This Banana Bread is foolproof... try it...you will see.

 beat together:

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

add and beat until combined:

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

 1 tsp pure vanilla extract 

combine separately and then add, beating until combined:

3 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

add:

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4 bananas)

1 12 oz bag chocolate chips (optional)

Spoon into two buttered and floured 8x4 inch loaf pans

Bake at 350F for one hour

I sent these to Nashville today, along with lots of prayers and good wishes.  Go T!!  So glad you are a child of mine.

Unchartered Waters

In 2013 my sister texted me this cairn on Lake Michigan's beach in front of our cabin on the Leelanau Peninsula.  For those of you who have not kept up with your Scottish Gaelic, a cairn is a trail marker.  I had many people showing me the way through chemo that summer...through chemo and radiation that fall, and through surgeries that winter.  Thanks to some amazing physicians and nurses at the University of Kansas Cancer Center in Kansas City and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, along with many more faithful friends and prayer warriors, I survived.  God is good. And our Lady of Guadalupe is my gal.

As I sit on my porch today, looking out over that same beach, I am now contemplating my life's next chapter...my baby is heading to college in less than a month...and I will be an empty nester.

 I am trying not to freak out. I didn't fight so hard two years ago to survive stage three colo-rectal cancer to not enjoy life now....right?  I am determined to fill my empty nest with joy...because, after all...I still have... 

 four kids (who really want me to stop focusing so much on them)

 a beautiful soon-to-be daughter in law

 this good man who has put up with me for 27 years

four sisters who are stuck with me (that is me in the middle)

and these two troublemakers.

It's all good.