Sunday, October 16

Quote of the Day:  “Prayer is a kind of calling home every day.  And there can come to you a serenity, a feeling of at-home-ness in God’s universe, a peace that the world  can neither give nor disturb, a fresh courage, a new insight, a holy boldness that you’ll never, never get any other way.”  Earl G. Hunt, Jr.

Yesterday was this incredibly warm Autumn day in Salt Lake.  Joe and I spent the morning in the sun walking around a trail in Cottonwood, then watched Maggie’s soccer game and then later when Maggie decided to play, and I mean really play, in our water-feature, I grabbed a chair and just marveled at the life in this beautiful little girl.  Playing in the water-feature isn’t something I would normally allow her do because the rocks take a long time to get perfectly in place but since it is the end of the season and winter will cause the rocks to move and fall anyway, we permitted it.  Maggie doesn’t love soccer.  She is hilarious to watch.  She likes to stop and while the other children are running after the ball, she will drop to the ground or look up to the sky or just look like she is thinking of other things.  I call her a dreamer.  But nonetheless, she is a lover of life.  She still had her soccer clothes on including shoes when she entered the fountain and then would walk up and down the rock steps and jump into the pond.  She did it about 20 times and finally Alex and I looked at each other and wondered simultaneously if someone had given her some candy.  She was delightfully enjoying life- laughing and groaning to climb over the rocks so she could do it again.  I finally convinced her into the shower and then thoroughly washed her body and hair.  As a parent, watching her at soccer is hard because she isn’t behaving like a soccer player should; running in a pack with the other children, chasing the ball to goal- she is 3, after all, but from a grandparent’s perspective, she is the most adorable, carefree, high-spirited child and we applaud her moxie!

Later that day, Nate asked me if I wanted to go on a hike with he and the girls.  Mary was at work or she would have been there.  I was really kind of tired and thought about all the things that I should stay home and get done and then it hit me that I needed to live each day.  Would I really trade cleaning my home for being up in the mountains with my son and granddaughters on one of the most beautiful days of the year?  I almost did.  We drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon and parked at Brighton and did the hike around Silver Lake.  The light in the sky was hitting those yellow quakies leaving a magnificent glow against the mountains.  And then there is Kate.  I am having a love-fest with that girl.  She puts out her arms every time I see her and insists that I hold her.  She is perfecting the walk and loved walking on the boardwalk around the lake.  You know how some people are dog lovers, well I’m a kid lover.  I would do anything for children.  Nothing makes me more furious than someone hurting a child.

Breast cancer is everywhere.  There was a blip on the news last night regarding an up-coming special on Breast Cancer. It’s a follow-up on a program that spotlighted 5 women with the disease years ago.  Since that airing, 2 of the women had passed away including a 27 year old.  I learned the following statistics from the news- 85% of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer, survive.  1-8 women will get breast cancer in their lifetime, early detection is the key.  And, the survival rate hasn’t really changed in the last few years.  One of the women commented on the fact that people will ask you about the disease and want to know if you’re cured.  Obviously, they don’t understand that even though the cancer has been removed and you’ve gone through treatment, some microscopic cells may have traveled to other parts of your body and be waiting.  Sometimes those cells can be there for years before they surface.  One day, Alex said to me “There must be something positive about the BRCA 1 Gene”, we just need to think of it and pretty much I’ve thought about it and the answer is no. But with the type of cancer that I was diagnosed with, Triple Negative, that is also sometimes associated with the BRCA 1 Gene, if the cancer hasn’t come back within 6-7 years, it’s not coming back.  So that means that this aggressive form will show up more quickly, if it indeed is coming back, than a less agressive form.  It also is too agressive to live past 6-7 years so as you get up in the numbers of years in survival, your survival chances become higher. I guess that’s the positive.  There is so much money spent on breast cancer, I hope that I will be able to see many strides made in the treatment of and cure of this cancer, and all cancers.

Kate Elizabeth at Brighton

Maggie living life in the water-feature