OAA's should be burned and banned and shoved up the arse...oh you get the point

Dear Lilly's Teachers and Administrators,

I apologize.  I'm sorry that I MIGHT have told Lilly:

"Well, you can tell Mr./Mrs. __________ that they can come over to our house on ANY morning that they want you to eat eggs, bacon and toast before school. I'm expected to dress, brush and manage to march three monsters onto the bus before I leave for work, I am NOT waking up early to fry eggs and bacon.  I promise your normal breakfast of Grapenuts and a piece of fruit will fuel your body with all of the brain food you'll need to make it to lunch without going any more crazy than you usually are.  If you want to add toast to your normal breakfast, you know where the toaster is.  

Oh, they can call your coach, too (in this case it's also your mom so they can kill two birds with one stone. YAY, multitasking!) and tell them to cancel practice because you need a good night sleep and after homework, dinner and showering that doesn't leave time for much of anything else.

Also, that ritual they talked about in your assembly, SURE!  pick your wedge before you answer each question if you want!! (Your friends will probably think you're a little cray cray, but honestly honey, I think most of them already do!)

The GUM!  Shit, I forgot the gum!  All we have is Juicy Fruit in the drawer today!  I'm so sorry, Lil, I promise you'll do fine without the increased mental functioning of studying while chewing gum and then test taking while chewing gum...especially since you've only intentionally chewed gum while reading ONCE."

Ok, so really I only spouted off the first paragraph to my overly stressed 3rd grade monster as SHE was lecturing ME about what I need to feed her for breakfast.  But the point is that she is FREAKING OUT about this stupid OAA test.  She does great in school, currently I have zero concerns academically with this energetic monster. Yet, they put so much emphasis on this standardized testing, she's ready to burst!!

I understand that this is one of the main ways that our teachers and our school is judged, but I think it's INSANE to put this much pressure on 3rd graders (or 4th graders or 5th graders or 6th graders)!! She's worked herself up to the point she's too nervous to go to sleep (even if I would have cancelled the softball practice and bathed her in lavender and chamomile)!

 I can't wait until testing is over and I have my carefree, crazy monster back without the doom and gloom of not passing a standardized test hanging over her head!!

I really am sorry, teachers, but not because I'm too:
a) lazy
b) tired
c) stubborn
d) busy
e) a and d
f) b and c
G) none of the above...

to make the eggs and bacon or to put my monster to bed earlier (she's already in bed by 9pm every night) or to encourage her to pick her butt before she answers each question or even to supply the same gum during study and test time!

Nope, I'm sorry because you're forced to push these tests on them even though most of you don't believe in them either.

Good luck to all the monsters, teachers, administrators, and parents during the testing weeks.

EDIT:  I understand that the teachers are not to blame for Lilly's stress level.  I agree with the comment below that her teachers and administrators only want the best for their students.  I'm just saying from a parents point of view, it's not fun/fair to watch your child stress about the stupid tests when you have a child that takes EVERYTHING literally, it's exhausting to try to calm her down when she thinks she might not pass third grade if she doesn't complete each of the tactics presented to her over the last few weeks of preparation. 

I'll be praying for you!

XOXO,

F U Anniversary

 Last year at this time I was sitting in a surgeons office thinking to myself: "I don't want her to do my surgery.  I wish she'd just stop talking!! I know what the paper says,  just freaking tell me so I can start looking for my team of doctors."

I knew it was bad, but the unexpected to a planner is brutal. SO MANY thoughts floating around in your head.

• *Who can I unload some of this mess on?*
•  What happens next?  
• Who can I trust with my life?  How do I decide what procedure should go first?  How do I know what is the best plan?
•  How am I going to tell my monsters? WHAT do I tell them? 
•  I wonder how my bosses are going to handle this? Who will do my work?  Will I have to quit? 
• Will my husband still be attracted to me?
•  ae;wo-NO!!-irehjt;oinhfa;gl-FUCK-kuewtproqu328570igai-WHY-h;oiugoi4uq23u (I had this type of thought A LOT.  I still do!)

But, here I am a year later. I (WE-this was totally a group effort) made it.

I'm different, but I'm still here.
 
I'm more in tune yet somehow more out of the loop.

Sometimes I get lost in my thoughts and have no idea what conversation is taking place in front of me.

Last night I played tickle torture right before bedtime.  I would have never done that a year ago!  Bedtime is supposed to be calm and relaxing.  {You know, GO THE F TO SLEEP!}  Now, I'll take the giggles whenever I can get them.

///////////////////////

So, this April 16th is different, but it's still difficult. I know the answer to all of the questions above now.  Now, really the only question relating to stupid, annoying, I-hate-you cancer is:

Will it come back?

And I think about this question A LOT.  More than I care to admit.

When my head hurts, I think it's spread to my brain.  When my arm feels heavy, I think it's the cancer coming back in my arm.  When my hips hurt because I'm old and I slept wrong, it just HAS to be spreading to my bone.  When I'm anxious and it feels heavy on my chest, I think it's gone to my sternum and most likely my lungs.  When I'm tired, it's taking over my body.  When I lose a couple pounds (I DO WANT TO LOSE A COUPLE (TEN!!) POUNDS...but not due to cancer;)), I eat more because I don't want to be losing weight because it scares me.

But I TRY and PRAY and SEEK ENCOURAGEMENT to concentrate on HOPE.

At Bible Study last week we talked about the notion that everything happens for a reason.  We talked about how much my fight has helped others with perspective or encouragement or even faith. Some were fighting right by my side, some followed from a distance, but ALL were able to see the light as I let my words spill out of my heart onto a blank sheet of paper for the world to read.

They reminded me that even though it has been a 'terrible, horrible, no good, very bad' YEAR, it has also been a wonderful, amazing, mess of a blessed year.

Thank you ALL for everything over the last year. I can never repay each of you for all you have done for my family, but I will be forever grateful.  I will concentrate my energy on hope and love with the intention of sharing it with all of you.  They are contagious you know?!  Cancer isn't contagious, but hope and love...they for sure are.  I know that in my heart.


All my hope and love,

** So-so-sooooooooo very fortunate to have so many survivors that double as my family and friends.  Some things/thoughts/feelings just can't be discussed with someone that hasn't been there. So unbelievably thankful for this bond we share.  I just wish it could have been over something more fun, like we all went streaking on a beach in Hawaii or something...maybe we should do that someday!?  We would frighten a lot of people!! :)



PS: I was going to list all of my survivor friends and ask ya'll to pray for them, but sadly there are TOO many to list without the risk of forgetting someone.  I have some that are in the WHAT IF stage that are freaking. Please pray for answers and more importantly peace.  I have some that recently started treatment, please pray for strength and the encouragement to start each day with the "blessed: even in the mess" attitude. For the warriors that are getting near the end of treatment, I ask that you pray for endurance and hope as they can taste that finish line it's so close!  For ALL of the survivors, please pray for peace and grace, love and hope.

Pray for a CURE.

These three monsters need one.

The Life of an Octopus-My Messy Beautiful

Hello new and old readers!  My name is Laura and I'm an octopus. I'm willing to bet you are too.


I'm also willing to bet you're thinking, "I wish I had 8 arms!!  Wouldn't that be amazing?" Multitasking at a whole new level! We could get SO much accomplished with 8 arms!!

But, really I'm an octopus because I feel like I have 3 hearts. Did you know that octopus have THREE hearts??  I didn't either until I took a road trip with my know-it-all monsters (aka children) this weekend by myself.  This revelation was BEFORE monster number three called out: "Mommy, I don't feel....BLEH"  Wouldn't it have been nice to have those extra six arms?  I probably could have grabbed a bag and caught the vomit!  Instead, monster #3 managed to get puke on not only him, but also the seat belt, the super annoying part of the car seat covered in fabric that takes 2 hours to disconnect and 4 hours to reassemble, inside the car seat cup holder and the little cubby on the side of the car seat, the pillow on the floor, his beloved stuffed animal that he HAD to bring, the floor, his shirt, his arm, AND his pants.

BUT, before the puking incident, I was lost in my thoughts about the octopus because of the three hearts, so back to the three hearts thing;)

I'm an octopus because I have three hearts.  They beat at different speeds and they demand my attention at different times, but they are always pumping.

One of my hearts finds its rhythm and feeds off of all of my negative emotions.  Honestly, sometimes I wish this heart would stop beating.  Yet, I know I wouldn't be the octopus-person that I am without this special heart beat. This heart beats faster when I hear of loss, sadness, illness, aching or struggle.  My sadness heart sometimes attempts to beat as the systematic heart (the one that feeds my entire body).  Sometimes I have to take a few steps back and catch my breath so that it doesn't take over as my most important organ. (It's not fun to fight depression, I promise!) When I see, and more importantly FEEL pain, this heart works harder.

This year, my sadness heart has been in overdrive.   Last April I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  When I found the cancer, it was already in my lymph nodes.  Since then, I've been through chemo, radiation and a couple surgeries. However, it wasn't any of the medical procedures that made my sadness heart hurt and scream in pain.

 

It was the delicate conversations with my three young monsters about cancer and hair loss and "are you going to die?"  It was carefully talking about "what-if" scenarios with my husband. It was calls from my baby brother where he didn't know what to say.  It was tears falling faster than anyone could catch from my mother who was just finding her stride again after losing my father to cancer after a long battle.  It was looking in the face of every.single.loved.one of mine and knowing that their sadness heart was ready to have a heart attack at any second-the pain in their eyes was palpable. It was finding the "new normal" with my friends that miss the more balanced octopus woman I used to be.  My sadness heart was taking over.

Still, my second heart was always, always present during the last year.  It's my favorite heart.  It doesn't bother me when this heart beats faster and I never wish that it would go into cardiac arrest.  My happy heart beats faster with each belly laugh and tickle torture, every smile and each hug, every occasion that the walls are brought down and truthful, loving conversations are enjoyed.  Or when I look at the card from my oldest monster: "Mom, You are very brave and I want to be like you when I grow up."  My happy heart pounds and causes my eyes to well with tears.  (Luckily, I'm an octopus and you can't see that I'm crying;)) It feels like my happy heart might simply burst when my little monsters tip-toe into my room and sneak into my bed oh so quietly so that the hubby doesn't catch them and return them to their bed.  They wiggle into my arms, so snug and sweet, and my happy heart aches with love.

Most importantly though is my HOPE heart.  This is the heart that I have to feed constantly, even resuscitate when necessary. It is the systematic heart and most important heart.  Without it beating, little pieces of my soul die off, one by one, never to be refueled with oxygen again.  When I hear of a friend that has just been delivered a craptastic diagnosis or worse when a precious child has to fight hard for their sweet life, I have to focus hard on my hope heart because my sadness heart tries so very hard to out pump it and steal the hope.  Sometimes, I think it would be so much easier to leave little pieces of my soul spread out over my tiny section of the world, but I know that all of the pieces together make me, me!

All of the hearts pumping in sync, my sadness and happy heart feeding my body and my hope heart feeding my soul, that's where the most love is.   It's the place where I feel content and full.  The place where I'm able to live each day, not worrying about the next. Happy and whole, able to sit back and enjoy both the smiles and the tears without allowing my heart(S) to harden.

It's where I can feel pain, but also joy.  Taking the time to feel the pain makes our joy that much more wonderful or as Glennon would say: Brutiful.  I'm learning to let go of the pain when it feels like I'm drowning and remember that I'm an octopus...I CAN SWIM! I'm letting my hope heart pump into each tentacle and forcing every suction cup to absorb the love.

This post can also be found at Momastery along with many other "Messy Beautiful" posts:
http://momastery.com/messy-beautiful-warrior-friends/

Let all three of your hearts beat in sync so that you're able to absorb all of the love. Feel it with all of your being and let go of the fear. Allow all three of your hearts a beat, but let your hope heart win.


Embrace your octopus,