So I may have adjusted the saying a bit, but I prefer ice cream over cake and splurge on an outfit that I can getaway with kicking off my shoes in on the dance floor.  I’m a barefoot girl … so this is my motto this summer.

*original known saying listed below. You may prefer that one.  I personally like mine 😉

We’re taking the trips ! (Beach with extended fam was after Easter, Time for JUST US (me, the hubbie and the kiddos was just last week) in Florida (wrapping it up with friends intermittently and at the end!), and we’ll take the crew with us on a work trip w some sight seeing, etc., at the end of summer.  Now, I keep being reminded that vacations with the whole crew should really be called “adventures”, vs. relaxing getaway/ vacation. But regardless, good family time and memory making away from all the constant busy-ness that we get caught up in here is good for the soul (ALL of our souls under this roof).

I’ve been in such a fog trying to wrap my head around the schedule that never changed after I ended my aggressive chemo in order to move to a maintenance plan.  I’m definitely less sick and have hair growing back (WOO HOOOOOOO); however, it’s a whole new gambit of quirky side effects and chemistry games to get all 3 forms of indefinite treatment at just the right level for me. Not to mention how much I want to have a 2 year old tantrum from time to time just because I can if I want to!!  (insert super whiney no-nap toddler voice) “They’re not the boss of me!!”  (Although I really better listen, I know. I know. Ugh.)

When we try to just wing it at home, even if we try to not make a bunch of commitments, life just gets busy.  Especially life with a family of seven with a mom that’s still taking daily targeted therapy pills, monthly big mamma- jamma shots, and targeted therapy infusions every few weeks.  Summer fun in the sun at home, can so easily get thwarted by a treatment or a run to the ER (it happens.  Used to be for kid injuries, now it’s mom and her random quirks).  (feel free to eye roll as I whined.  Yes, I could “take some cheese with that whine”- as my parents would often joke with us as kids.).  

Nope. Parents and Cancer patients don’t get days off.

And with every moment that I even begin the first part of a whine, I’m reminded of all the prayer intentions that I offer up my treatments, my side effects, my gratitude to have a so many second chances to fight to live this life again.  We all have our “cancers”.  Whether they be medical, financial, personal loss, relational… we’ve got ’em.  There’s no need to compare, they’re all real, and we all have what we can handle on our plates, and they’re no joke.  I’m grateful for the opportunity to offer up my cross for the crosses that others bear.  I just wish I so many so that I loved didn’t have to bear such pain.  If it was up to me, I’d gladly take it all in this big hit of my diagnosis.

Meanwhile,  I know that God wants us to not just bear our cross, but he wants us to feel it’s glory.  he wants us to feel the life that the cross can bring, too.  In these sweet moments that he gives us with each breath that we’re given, we need to live.  So, we “take the trip, eat the ice cream, ditch the shoes!”

If there’s anything that I’ve learned with the busy-ness of life, it’s that it’s unpredictable.

Work hard. Pray hard.  PLAY HARD.   That’s what I’m trying to do here.  The achy joint pains that I have now, the wierd bouts of stomach issues, and the ridiculous fatigue that, my kids all know, rarely lets me stay awake for a full family movie are for the birds.  (Sorry birds, I don’t know who made that saying up!). Yet, they’re part of me now, they’re part of my new life of living with cancer.    I’m tweaking what I eat and drink, trying new supplements and shakes, etc.,  to alleviate what I can of those “quirks that send me to the ER”.  But in the meantime,  I’ve reread a few posts here on my blog and watched a random video from time to time of myself telling others:

“I don’t want to SURVIVE!   I want to LIVE!! I want to ROCK!”

I said that.  It baffles me to watch myself bald or wearing a chemo beanie, kicking ass butt 😉 and taking names without a flinch.  Who is that girl?  Oh, yeah… that’s me.   What a fool I’d be if I didn’t carry out what I told myself and GOD that I’d do if I “survived”.  I may be always fighting to be a SURVIVOR,  but in the mean time…

I’m gonna LIVE. I’m gonna ROCK. 

Why?  Because I’m so much more than a survivor.   I’m a wife, I’m a mother, I’m a sister, I’m a friend,  and I’m someone that is so grateful to GOD for every breath that He continues to give me and every extra moment that I have with my family and friends… that I’m not gonna waste this precious time.  I don’t need to do anything fancy or extreme, I just wanna go where my schedule won’t keep me saying, “Sorry guys, I gotta run to another appointment, I’ll play when I get back.” Or “In a little bit, Mommy’s tired. ”  Nope.  Not this summer.  Sure,  it still happens, but unfortunately, I gotta schedule some real trips to take us away and force us to go off the grid and look away from the phones and screens and have real “FaceTime” with each other.

So, here’s to living.  Here’s to loving, and here’s to not just surviving, but putting my heart where it really wants to be…  with the ones that it pumps for.  With the ones that it fights for.  Off the grid, finding adventures, and making memories this summer.  Here’s to SUMMER!

Takin on Summer like Friggin’ Chuck Norris! Boom!!

*********************

Below I’m attaching a slideshow of just a few pics of our first trip of the summer… 

***(thanks to a wonderful family from our parish who decided to anonymously gift us with a secret santa gift under our Christmas tree this year:  A week stay in Pensacola!  Which we wrapped up with a few days with friends in Destin, too.  The beach is my true getaway, happy place.  Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!! )

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ANGELETTE BEACH BASH 2017

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!  THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR CONTINUED PRAYERS, PLEASE KNOW THAT I CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR YOU ALL AND ALL OF YOUR PRAYER INTENTIONS (PLEASE CONTINUE TO ADD THEM ON MY PRAYER WALL PAGE).

AND UNTIL NEXT TIME, JUST REMEMBER…

TO TAKE A DEEP BREATH THIS SUMMER, TRY TO GO WEAR YOUR HEART DESIRES MOST,  LIVE FOR WHAT YOU LOVE, HAVE FAITH, AND IF YOU CAN…

“Take the TRIP.  Eat the ICE CREAM.  And DITCH THE SHOES!!! “

#everylittlethingsgonnabealright

#teambuna

#bunashope