Live the Life you Love!

You may have noticed I didn't write too much after August of last year.  I'm not looking for sympathy, I was just dealing with a lot and wasn't able to properly express myself.  I was trying my best just to sleep at least four hours a night.  Some nights were and are still harder than others, but, I'm realizing we only have one life, so live it and LOVE it!

In late August of 2014, my Grandmother had a stroke.  She was 100!  Yes, 100 Years YOUNG!  She lived life to the fullest was so very sweet and we had a huge 100th birthday for her in December of 2013.

She passed away on August 31st.  Going to her funeral in Rockford, Illinois, was hard for me.  She lived a long life, was a happy and upbeat person.  I know where I get that from :).  The most difficult part is that she was my last living Grandparent.  It made me stop and think a lot, WAY.TOO.MUCH!

On our way to the funeral in Rockford, we learned that my husband's mother had stage 4 lung cancer. She had gone to the doctor because her back hurt.  After all the medications wore off, her chest hurt and they took some tests and she was diagnosed.

My Mom is a cancer survivor, two years ago this June, she had her lung removed due to cancer.  She has had almost a year of clean scans, so this news about my husbands Mom was hard to hear.  Hard to go through again.  Especially because in January of 2012, my Mom's mother, was diagnosed with lung cancer for less than 5 days and passed away.

Yes, this is a lot of cancer.  Yes, they were all smokers.  So, if you are my friend or in my family and I make a comment about smoking, it is from experience.  I have not ever tried smoking, nor will I ever!  I've experienced enough to know that it causes horrible things.

Less than two weeks later, we dropped everything in Grand Rapids and drove the Memphis, as her health had been deterorating.  We arrived at Midnight on Saturday September 20th, she was removed from tube feeding at noon that Saturday and moved to hospice.

We were able to talk to her, listen to her favorite music and just be together with her.  She passed away shortly after 4:30pm on that Sunday.  I'm forever grateful that we decided to just pack up and leave and be there.

After awhile in Memphis, we headed back to Grand Rapids.  Things were difficult going back to work as people kept asking where I was.  Or was I traveling to a fun place for work, or why I hadn't been in the office.  When you are grieving, these are very difficult things to answer.

Slowly, I began to sleep a little more, about 6 hours a night!  Then, as I was finally getting to be back to my normal self, a co-worker who had been on leave was told she needed a heart transplant.  In early December, she got a heart transplant, but unfortunately didn't make it 24 hours.

There is a lot to learn here.  Visit your family as much as you are able.  Living in Grand Rapids, my friends are my family.  They are the family that I chose for myself.  John and I have no relatives in this area, but we are reminded daily to love one another and be happy for what you have.