Aunt Joyce

My Aunt Joyce is in the middle of her third bout with ovarian cancer in as many years. She is such an inspiration. I can't believe her drive and determination. It has to be so disheartening to hear over and over again that you need to endure yet another round of treatment for a disease that you have so little control over. I mean if someone has diabetes they can try to improve their diet and exercise and increase their chances of living a pretty normal and happy life. High blood pressure, work on your stress levels and eats less salt. High cholesterol? No more steak for you! But this whole cancer thing sucks. There are lots of things someone can do to try to improve their odds, but the bottom line is that unless that cancer feels like slinking away like the coward that it is. It's going to just keep coming back whenever it damn well pleases. It's like a drunk brother in law who keeps showing up at your doorstep in the middle of the night begging you to let him stay, just this once.You can't let him because he won't stop. You can never give up and you need to just tell yourself that the odds are just that, odds. They can be beat. Not that I would know anything about being so brave and determined but I imagine if you have nothing left but faith, you figure out a way for that to be enough. For a woman who's been to hell and back health wise she looks great. She is going in for a treatment on Tuesday and her sister came up from Florida to spend some time with her. We were all there this weekend to go to my cousin's high school graduation. It was a lot of fun. The time spent with my relatives - not necessarily that spent with my little branch of the family tree, but they weren't too bad. I have had much worse experiences on trips and in hotels with my kids. Tomorrow my sisters and I will drive back here to have lunch with my three aunts and my mother. I'm not sure we have ever done that before. We always have kids or husbands or some special occasion to prepare for. I wasn't planning on having any kids, but my sitter fell through and I am going to have to take Ed. Hopefully she will not mind having to miss a day of school. With all of that blond hair she needs all of the school she can get, you know. It's too bad we don't do this kind of thing more often. There are always excuses. Perfectly fine reasons we cannot possibly take time out of our busy schedules. Those obligations will still be there and we will always have time for excuses later. In the meantime I am going to spend time with my family even if it may be inconvenient for some people. The amount of time spent on this earth is negligible to the quality of time spent with those we love. We have a lot of great memories and I am looking forward to making some more in these next few days. Love you Aunt Joyce!