Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Celebrity Daughter


Celebrity Daughter
Originally uploaded by fireater.
Quiet. Not something that I'm used to lately. With 3 little girls now these moments are few and far between, unless I want to get up super early.

Abby is back on chemo again this week and to be honest I'm not looking forward to it. You would think by this point I would be fine with these weeks, and usually I am, but for some reason this week is different. Maybe it is all the attention that Abby has been getting lately. The picture and article in the paper, the Team in Training weekend stuff and the upcoming Relay for Life event this weekend. Now don't get me wrong, it all been great stuff but it has also unpacked a lot of things that I think I had forgot about.

I got to speak this weekend, with Abby of course, at the Team in Training event. In the email they asked if I'd get up and say a few things about how the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society had helped up out and I said sure. I imagined that it would be a big long table with a handful of runners there and I would just stand up at the table with Abby and say something. Instead it was a big conference room with a stage and podium that I got to speak from... That's ok, I'm flexible. Abby and I went up there and she leaned into the mic and said, "I'm Abby and I have Leukemia." Just encase some of them didn't know. I guess I just wasn't ready for how those words would bring back so many emotions. To say it myself is one thing, but to hear it from the lips of my daughter is a whole different thing... a very uncomfortable sentence really.

And though the reason that we were there was hard it really was a great weekend for our family and Abby. The girls got gifts, we were put up in a very nice hotel room with a great view, the pasta dinner event was fun and Abby loved talking to all the runners. She was especially great at handing out candy and pretzels to the runners at mile 25! Tiffany got to get up early with Lily and got to get a Starbuck's in the lobby (yes they had one in the lobby of the hotel!) and just reflect on life in the quiet of the morning.

So, even though it brought back some memories and emotions that I would rather not ponder on, it also brought joy and hope to a lot of the people that were involved with last weeks event. I'm sure her little speech and chubby-cheeked smile will do the same for the people this weekend at Relay for Life... how can anyone not smile back at that little face!

Off we go into the decadron week, pray that it will be a good one.