A Life Lived Well

It's not often that I receive news that brings me to my knees. News that is so earth-shattering, so heart-stopping, that I collapse in disbelief, shock, and pain that rocks my very core.

I opened the letter, making note of the return address and thinking briefly, "Oh, the new support group meeting dates for 2010. Great!"

What I read instead was the tale of a heartbroken husband, informing those of us in the area Pulmonary Hypertension community of the passing of his wife.

Part of her obituary on the national PHA website reads as follows:

Wendy at the time of her passing was the Support group leader for two groups in XXXX. Her role was to promote Hope, Support, Advocacy, Awareness, in the communities of City A and City B. She assumed the Support group leadership role in 2007. She was co-chair of the first two charity golf tournaments and chair of two more. November 2009, Pulmonary Awareness month, she set up a Casino Night Fundraiser that in a bad economy raised $20,000 for the PHA. She received many accolades for an outstanding job organizing that event and was proud of exceeding her goal of $10,000.
She has touched so many people in XXXX and given them a sense of hope that they would not die in 6 months to 2 years, a time line many cases are given being diagnosed with a terminal illness. She was highly regarded on the national level also by the leaders of the PHA. Her motto was she is living with PH, not dying from it."

Wendy was a force. She always wore a smile and possessed a laugh with which she greeted anyone who came to a meeting or an event. She had a wry sense of humor, and she was a cheerleader for all her suffered from this terrible condition.

I did not know Wendy well, but her loss to our community has left me bereft and in mourning. Living with a chronic, life-threatening illness becomes a way of life, not a way to die, and most of the time I live in a state of acceptance. Death is a reality that I know can occur at any time, and yet.....the very idea of death seems an improbability.

Until Death takes one of our own. Then....then, I face my mortality.

And I scream, "Go to hell, Death! You can NOT have me too!"

RIP, Wendy. Godspeed. Take a deep breath, and feel no more pain.

Christmas Cheer

I won't be around much this week (if at all), and I might not be around much during the entire Christmas school break. My kids are home, my husband is home, and we're doing lots of fun family stuff together.

My FB friends will find me there as usual, perhaps a bit more there than here. In the meantime, I leave you with the following video to send you a smile and a giggle. Merry Christmas to you and yours, and a Peaceful and Joyous New Year.

Did You Think I Was Dead?

I'm sure some of you did, and some of you might even wish that I was (*cheesy grin*), but I'm still here luxuriating in my slackerdom. It's an art, you know? The Christmas lights are on the house, and the tree is decorated. We even managed to get a few interior decorations placed: a couple of light-up cartoon characters greeting neighbors from the windows; some brightly lit reindeer lounging in the family room; and some festively dressed rubber duckies guarding the flat screen television. Other than that, my Christmas preparations have involved nada. No cards are written or addressed; in fact, I may not even get them out this year. I have not yet taken the annual kids' photo for the card, and I'm refusing to write a newsletter this year since life in the Birdcage has been SOS. (Look that one up if you don't know nor can infer a meaning.)

I HAVE been attending Christmas concerts of late. Thursday night, the Lass sang with her school chorus at school, and last night they performed again at a local shopping center (think: outdoor market or plaza). We also had the pleasure of hearing the local high school honor choir, and they Knocked. My. Socks. OFF. My daughter had stars in her eyes as she envisioned auditioning for an being accepted into that choir next year. Tonight I tagged along with my friend LD and her family as we went to her mother's church to hear their choir. It was, as expected, wonderful. Tuesday night, my daughter wants to attend the high school's chorus concert as a result of hearing the honor choir. I think we might be able to work that one in the schedule.

So, while no Christmas prep taking place, lots of soaking in of the sounds and sights of the season. I suppose that's a start, right?

After spending lots of time editing documents, I've had very little motivation to write blog posts. To rest my brain, I'd much rather take in an NFL game or a college hoops game on the boob tube. Speaking of, did anyone catch either the IU/Kentucky basketball game or the Butler/Ohio State game, both of which aired AT THE SAME TIME on Saturday? Yeah, thank goodness for DVRs and split screen viewing. I was able to enjoy the Hoosiers try to hang tough with the UK Wildcats, and I was overjoyed to see my Bulldogs defeat my hubby's Buckeyes *grin*. On the NFL front, my Colts are STILL undefeated as of this writing, and they have secured home field advantage through the playoffs (provided they can finally shake off that damn Charger albatross - *sigh*). It's a great time of year for a sports junkie like me. (I'm sure Travis agrees, too!).

Not much else happening around here. I'm trying to keep up with reading blogs, but even that has been spotty at best. I'm not ignoring you all; I'm just lazy. Too busy having fun with my kids, and too distracted by other things to be tied down at the computer for long.

As you all get mired down with To Do list priorities this holiday season, let me leave you with this thought:



Later daze.........

Cheap Trick...

....just to get a laugh, snort, guffaw, or chuckle out of you.

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After getting all of Pope Benedict's luggage loaded into the limo, (and he doesn't travel light), the driver notices the Pope is still standing on the curb.

'Excuse me, Your Holiness,' says the driver, 'Would you please take your seat so we can leave?'

'Well, to tell you the truth,' says the Pope, 'they never let me drive at the Vatican when I was a cardinal, and I'd really like to drive today.'

'I'm sorry, Your Holiness, but I cannot let you do that. I'd lose my job! What if something should happen?' protests the driver, wishing he'd never gone to work that morning..

'Who's going to tell?' says the Pope with a smile.

Reluctantly, the driver gets in the back as the Pope climbs in behind the wheel. The driver quickly regrets his decision when, after exiting the airport, the Pontiff floors it, accelerating the limo to 205 kph.. (Remember, the Pope is German..)

'Please slow down, Your Holiness!' pleads the worried driver, but the Pope keeps the pedal to the metal until they hear sirens.

'Oh, dear God, I'm going to lose my license -- and my job!' moans the driver.

The Pope pulls over and rolls down the window as the cop approaches, but the cop takes one look at him, goes back to his motorcycle, and gets on the radio.

'I need to talk to the Chief,' he says to the dispatcher.

The Chief gets on the radio and the cop tells him that he's stopped a limo going 205 kph.

'So bust him,' says the Chief.

'I don't think we want to do that, he's really important,' said the cop.

The Chief exclaimed,' All the more reason!'

'No, I mean really important,' said the cop with a bit of persistence.

The Chief then asked, 'Who do you have there, the mayor?'

Cop: 'Bigger.'

Chief: ' A senator?'

Cop: 'Bigger.'

Chief: 'The Prime Minister?'

Cop: 'Bigger.'

'Well,' said the Chief, 'who is it?'

Cop: 'I think it's God!'

The Chief is even more puzzled and curious, 'What makes you think it's God?'

Cop: 'His chauffeur is the Pope!'

Just Another Reason....

....that I love football (and some football players!). These top two are tops in my book.

(taken from Sports Illustrated, December 2, 2009)

Ruby Tuesday - Hello...

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On a more serious note, today is World AIDS Day. On this day, several Product (RED) merchants will increase their contributions to help fight AIDS in Africa. Visit these merchants today and see how they will help make a difference:

Starbucks: 5 cents for every hand-crafted beverage in US & Canada, and 5p/5 Euro cents for every espresso-based beverage bought in UK & Ireland.

Gap: 1% of all revenue at participating US and Canada stores.

Dell: Doubling their contributions on DELL (PRODUCT) RED™ products in US and Europe. Until December 2nd.

Bugaboo: As always Bugaboo will be contributing 1% of their total revenue to the Global Fund.

Click here to see all (RED) partners.

Go (RED), and make an impact.