Make Memories

I took this post from my Caring Bridge site to share on here... I thought it was important to share this with as many people as possible!

So... what have we been doing since I last wrote to you!  Well, we have been 'Making Memories'.  Our new family saying is 'Making Memories' and we are really enjoying it!

When you are faced with the possibility of not getting to see your child grow up and get married, you re-address everything and the way you think.  

There is a very special, extremely strong lady who is a friend of a friend, called Brea.  She was diagnosed a week after I was and has fought so hard to be cancer free.  She has been a great source of inspiration to me and has become a friend of mine.  She recently took a holiday with her husband and two daughters to make some family memories.  She was criticized by a person she knows, who didn't know the full story of her holiday, for going on a holiday when she has medical bills to be paid!  This upset me so much... it made me mad and it made me so determined to let Brea know that no matter what anyone says, she is doing the right thing.

Until you are faced with the situation both Brea and I have gone through and are still going through, you will never fully understand the importance of spending time with your family and doing fun and adventurous things with the people you love.  I love that I get to do things and go places I would never get to because of the Cancer... something good always comes out of something bad!

I encourage you to do the same... take one weekend a month and do something crazy... run into a lake fully clothed with your children watching and then laugh about it with them... do a cool craft together and make something your child can keep forever... learn to knit, and then make a cool blanket... learn to ride a horse... have a bonfire on the beach... just think of something that you have always wanted to do... and then go and do it with your love ones.  Take silly photos as you do it!  You don't have to have cancer to do fun things and make memories with your family and friends.

Jason, Kayle and I have spent a lot of time with our family and friends recently making memories and we have lots of people to thank for that.

Thank you to the Pattison Family for letting us stay in their house in Huntington Beach for nothing.

Thank you to my sister-in-laws friend who let us stay in their house in Oregon for nothing.

Thank you to all our friends who made the effort to come and see us... and ate dinner with us, made smores with us, sat around firepits with us, took us to football games and made us feel like superstars, who bought me the cute skirt I really wanted but couldn't afford... who anonymously sent us $200 to cover our petrol, who took us to Idaho for free, who paid for us to go camping!  There are so many people who have done amazing things for us to help make us make memories!

Thank you to each and every one of you!!!