The C Word Sucks

Overstating the obvious is one of my many talents. My sister will have surgery on the 27th of this month remove a 1B non-small cell tumor from her lung. She will have to have follow up chemo...I was lucky that I didn't have to do that part for my treatment journey last May. Can you believe that she and I both had the big C word diagnosis within the same year? And then there's my friend Kathi Goertzen who is continuing to battle a benign growth that is intertwined in her brain stem. Lord! The poor girl has had so many damn surgeries it is heartbreaking. Just the other day she spent an entire day in a three phase surgery. So, guess what? Benign tumors are still hell. She is one helluva fighter though and recuperating quite well but why does this crap keep happening? Life is so random. So, the lesson here is that we must all live our lives like each day could be our last. Don't waste time being petty, fearful, or awful. Go out and live fully and love completely. Practice aloha....

Life is a Journey --that should be enjoyed!

Life is a beautiful journey with many peaks and valleys. Sometimes the valleys seem too deep but if we just look up and keep trudging we can see the beauty ahead of us...beauty created by God. I am not going to get all churchy because it is too early in the morning for me to do that but I just wanted to share that most of our life lessons are learned in the valleys. When we are on the peaks it feels so good that we tend to enjoy it and not look down or up for that matter. I am a typical mother who worries about her kids and grandchildren. I can't help it. So, their valleys are my valleys and sometimes it is a good reminder to let them experience the valleys for their own growth but at other times it is very scary to watch as one of them keeps walking into the thicket...or worse is allowing herself to be lead into dangerous areas...when all she really needs to do is LOOK UP. God will lead her out of the darkness if she would just look up. Sigh. Life is a gift. aloha.

Weird Coincidences

Okay, so yesterday I was asking why it feels like time is flying by...and I surmised that it is because we need a reminder to live fully. Well, duh. Time feels like it's flying by because it is. I guess when you have more time behind ya than in front of you...oh well you get the picture. Anyway, got really upsetting news today that my sister has lung cancer. She is probably doing better than I am, which is scary because I have always been the strong one. Anyway, prayer works and I am asking everyone I know to please pray that the doctors can cut it out and that will be the end of it. Please kiss your loved ones who are near and call or write those who aren't and tell them you love them. Life is short and getting shorter each day. So please live with gratitude and appreciate what and who you have. Our lives and what happens to us is all in God's hands. Live aloha!

January 2012 is Gone

This is the last day of January 2012. I am freaked out by how fast time flies. When we were kids it seemed like everything took so long to happen or come to fruition - now it is frightening how fast time is flying by. What is that all about anyway? Has to be a reminder that we are all mortal and that one day one minute one instant it could all be over. Cheerful thought, eh? Well, it can be looked at from both sides. I will choose to take it as a great reminder to live each moment to the fullest. Another favorite quote and lesson from my son Cory. "Live like there's no tomorrow...love with all your heart and laugh until your spirit lights up!" Live aloha.

Re-connecting with old friends!

I was so pleasantly surprised this week when out of the blue I received an email from my son's 1st grade teacher Teresa Goethe. This was as a result of one of those six degrees of separation or small world deals because there is a class photograph in my book on page 100 where Teresa and the kids are sitting in rows. Well, someone she works with now - 30 years later recognized her while reading my book. So she approached Teresa at work with this information. Anyway, long story short - Teresa dug out some photos from that school year - photos I had never seen before...she scanned them and emailed them to me. What a treat! I cried of course and then immediately posted them on my Facebook page to share with my friends and family members who either knew him, loved him or knew of him from reading my book. If any of you out there who read this blog have pictures to share with me - please do! Aloha!

My sister Penny

So, as if my family hasn't been struck by lightning too many times already - I got a scared and scary telephone call from my sister Penny last week and it has taken me this long to digest it. She was coughing and not able to sleep so she went to the doctor for cough syrup... she ended up with X-rays, CT scan, PET scan, biopsy and massive amount of blood work. Waiting for results but am hopeful that the "mass" they are seeing in her scans is a fungal infection rather than a tumor. We should know something in a few days. Not sure why it takes so long but sitting on pins and needles sucks. Reminds of my past. Please pray for the infection. I am. Aloha.

MLK Day

Just woke up and it hit me what a sad day this really is...MLK was killed in his prime. He had so much to offer us as a society and a country and it was gone in an instant. There is the possibility that he his lessons had a stronger impact because of the way he died and the timing...I am sure his family doesn't go there but just think he was a man who put his pants on one leg at a time just like the rest of us. If he could change the world any one of us can too if we put our minds to it. I know my thoughts are rambling this morning but --- my next thought went to those jerks who create viruses just to screw with people...crash computers, etc. Just because they can and they want to feel powerful and somehow get a kick out of making others miserable. Well, if they would use their intelligence for good rather than evil deeds just think of what they could accomplish! When my grandson Keawe was six years old he came home from school having learned about MLK that day and said to me, "Puna when I grow up I want to be a good man like Dr. Martin Luther King." Love triumphs over evil! I choose the good guys. Here's to you Dr. King!