Returning to Normal….Hopefully….

Hello to all our wonderful blog friends! I know we’ve been MIA quite a long time, and Daisy and I have missed all of you

Hello again! I missed you!

so much. I can’t tell you how much I’ve appreciated the emails and comments from those of you who were concerned about our sudden and lengthy absence – it softened a difficult time for me. This community is such a blessing in our lives.

Our absence was the result of a crazy series of events. At first, it was for good things that were happening – my freelance writing career went into overdrive (always a good thing!), and my daughter started her own editing/proofreading/beta reading business that started off with a very positive bang. I was helping her with the business end of things and with her great writing/editing abilities, she’s gotten off to a nice strong start. But it sure was time consuming.

Just as things got under control and I thought I’d get back to blogging again (did I mention how much I missed you all??), things went south. My husband was told he possibly had a very serious illness, for which he had to undergo extensive testing and some nasty biopsies. The doctor was so concerned that he made sure everything got done as quickly as possible, but it was still three weeks of hell not knowing how the tests would come back. I was in tears almost every day, preparing for the worst while praying for the best.

I’m happy to say that in the end, the best won out. All of the tests and biopsies came back “clean”, as the doctor said, and what he thought was most probably a latter-stage cancer turned out to be nothing more than an irritation of the prostate that carried with it all the same symptoms of stage 3-4 prostate cancer. I owe God a lot, I can tell  you!

After my heart rate finally returned to normal, I got a phone call that a friend of mine, who’s like a sister to me, passed away at only 47 years of age. She was extremely disabled with a progressive disease and had taken a serious turn for the worse several weeks earlier. She was in such a severely debilitated state that she was praying for God to either heal her or take her. We knew it would be the latter, and last week, her final prayer was answered quite suddenly.

Her parents, who consider me their “adopted daughter”, honored me by asking me to deliver a eulogy at her wake this week. I’ve never done this before, and I’m not a public speaker. I don’t like being in the spotlight, but I’m going to push through that dread and do what I feel is right as a final way to honor this truly amazing woman, who never let her disabilities stand in the way of living her life. She was truly an inspiration and the person I always think of when I’m groaning over some stupid little inconvenience or minor catastrophe that will pass. What she went through during the course of her life, I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Yet she always carried a smile.

Believe it or not, that was the abridged version of what went on during our absence! I can see that I’ve missed so much around here, and I’ll try to play catch-up as I can once the funeral is over on Thursday. I’m sure by Friday, I’ll be in recovery mode – probably an exhausted pile of soggy mush. But that’s the first step in the road back to normalcy.

Thanks again for sticking around and checking on us. You guys are the absolute best!