In which we catch up on the news.
When you go a long time without any news, you're bound to run into a few surprises when you catch up.
The surprise might be a new discovery about an old friend. For us, the old friend was Paris and the new discovery was one of (if not THE) oldest pet cemetery ever. The tombstones were decorated with squeaky toys as well as flowers and the epitaphs were heartfelt. More than one owner promised to never love anyone-- two-legged or four-- again.
Back home, there were surprises that shouldn't have been surprises. True to form, choosing a Halloween costume proved a challenge. Owen was all excited about being Superman until we bought the costume. Then he wanted to be a pumpkin... until we bought THAT costume. We were prepared for a plain clothes holiday until Grandma Pat finally bribed him into his outfit. We managed to trick-or-treat two houses before he ditched the pumpkin.
Then we had birthday surprises. Owen's grandfather celebrated with a cake that was less professionally baked but considerably more intact than Grandma Pat's from last month.
And finally we had the surprise we never wanted. My mother called-- her doctor had found a spot on her lung and she needed me to take her in for the biopsy. He confirmed our worst fears: Cancer.
A week after that, we surprised ourselves again by sitting down to dinner together, opening the wine, and toasting the lung cancer. Because it was ONLY lung cancer.
The oncologist gave us the best news we could have hoped for. In short, the cancer is confined to the lung and it's non-small cell. Translation: It can be cured.
Oh, the cure-- radiation and chemo therapy-- is unpleasant and lengthy to say the least. But I was reminded to have faith by one last surprise:
My aunt, my cousin and her children surprised my mom with a day of yard chores. Several hours and at least 50 trash bags of leaves later, they left her with a pristine lawn and freshly cleared gutters. Less than 24 hours later it was like they'd never been there.
My mom's yard has three trees. Two of them shed throughout the fall and then the oak dumps its foliage in the spring. This insures that the yard, driveway and gutters remain permanently covered no matter how hard one works.
The thing is, my mom never gives up. Week after week, month after month, year after year, she sweeps her driveway. As a teenager, I used to accuse her of trying to sweep her way to China. Two decades later, she still seems determined to step out her front door and into the heart of Beijing.
And that, her sheer determination, is why it will be no surprise when she finally beats the cancer.
Now if we could just do something about the leaves....
