The Lady of the Rings

Okay....one more and then we are done.  You can even write down on any of your reading charts that tonight you read the equivalent of a small novel.
Sorry about the 8 teas you may have already ingested.  On the bright side, your reading skills are really developing well!

Today was chemo day #7.  That means only ONE MORE TO GO!  WHOOOOO HOOOOOO!
I can't believe how quickly this has gone and I am so, so, so thankful that we are almost done this leg of the journey.

Thank you, thank you, God, for being with us and making it go quickly.  Thank you for our amazing family and friends and church family and homeschool family who have been there every single step of the way!

So, today was another chemo round.  Today my sister, Crystal took me!  Crystal is my older sister.  She also attests that she is the wiser one as well and I have to give in because I was taught to respect my elders.  When we were kids, my dad loved to photograph life, people, and houses.  One day, two-year old Crystal was holding her baby sister (me) and I began to slip out of her arms.

"Mom!  Dad!" she shouted in alarm as her chubby arms squeezed around my neck in a vain attempt to hold me up.
"Just a second..." my dad assured her as he pulled out his handy-dandy camera and snapped off some pictures.  Then he rescued me.  I was sobbing.  Crystal was crying.  But my dad had caught the perfect picture and it became a Christmas card that was apparently sent all over the world.  By this photo, I was known.

When I was 24 and moved to Hamilton to begin a teaching job, I was recognized by that picture.

"Oh, you are the girl from the picture ....." they would begin miming someone squeezing someone else.
"Yeah, that was me..." I would intone drily.

Crystal is the one who would help me style my hair or put make-up on me.  She had such high hopes that I would turn into a Pretty Princess.  And she tried.  She showed me skirts and dresses that could be accentuated with things called "accessories".  I walked away with army pants and unmatching shirt.  She delicately applied mascara and light layers of pastel eye shadows.  I fell in love with dark black outlining my eyes and green nail polish.  She sat me down and spent hours curling my hair.  I was quite content to have it hang straight down my back, parted in the middle.

We were so different but alway got along so well.  Maybe that was why we were always so close.  We shared a bedroom for 24 years.  We shared secrets and gave advice.  We have always shared friends and Crystal and I have gone out for birthday dinners with a group of five girls for 20 years now.  We just had our Christmas dinner together.

We have always been so close so it was wonderful to have her along today at my chemo round.  She made sure I was tucked in with 3 heated blankets, that I had a pillow behind my head and one to support my hand.  She held my hand and talked about mundane things while the nurse tried to locate a good vein and then gave up and located a new good vein to begin the infusion.  She gave me a hand massage and fetched me a snack.  She even sat patiently while I slept and slept and slept.  The meds I take before chemo just knock my socks off....well, not literally.  My socks were okay....they just make me sleepy(not the socks...the meds. This is getting confusing)!!  So I slept and Crystal stood guard.

Another chemo round is done and I am so thankful that Crystal could be there with me.  What on earth would I do without all the wonderful people that God has put in my life?

When my chemo was done, I walked Crystal out of the chemo suite and showed her the bell...the bell that you ring when you are all done chemo....the bell that signifies the end of a hard journey and the beginning of something new...the bell that draws applause and tears from patients and nurses and staff .

I told Crystal, "I've got some big plans for that bell!  I'm gonna be the Lady of the Rings!   I can't wait to ring that bell next week!"

And because she is my sister and we love each other so much, she put her hand around me and said, "I'll bet you can't wait, Brig!" and then we walked forward together without so much as one glance behind.


"For by you I can run against a troop and by my God I can leap over a wall."  Psalm18:29