Something about me

I'm sorry about the delay between posts. I've had some things come up in my life that have made it difficult to concentrate. Today's post is going to be about why I feel so strongly about Breast Cancer Awareness.

When I was little, I figured out at an early age that I was quite a bit younger than the rest of my generation. Not the general population's generation, but the generation that I belong to as it relates to my family. My mother had me at a very late stage in her life. She did not think she could even have kids anymore. She was 43. All but two of my cousins were much older than I was. All of my brothers and my sister were at least nine years older than I. As a result, I "hung out" with the cool older kids. (imagine being 5 and being aloud to hang out with the 14 and 16 year olds, I was in heaven) One of my favorites was my cousin Laura. She was always so glamorous in my eyes. She got up every day and curled her hair so that she could have the big hair, Farrah Fawcett wings. It was naturally very blond and she wore makeup (by this point I was about nine and she was eighteen); she was my hero. When I went to Tulsa every month to visit our grandmother, she and I would go hang out for the afternoon while our moms would talk. She would do my hair and we would go to the local fast food place to hang out with her friends. She eventually fell in love and got married, had kids and "grew up", but we would still go hang out when I would come to town. She was the cool cousin.
I eventually grew up and had my first child, and we would sit and talk for a while when I could make it to town, but she was feeling run down. I couldn't blame her. Her kids had a genetic issue that caused many trips to the hospital and she was worried about how their lives would turn out. She ignored some of the warning signs. When she did find the lump, she went in for treatment and they had it in remission for a while, but it moved. She fought it for several years, but she fell to the cancer.

I realized the other day, that I am now older than she was when she died. I am seeing my kids grow up as she never got the chance. I have the chance to experience things she was not able to. I miss her. As I do my mother, who fell to complications of Cervical cancer. All of the things that we do to help scientist look for prevention and cures, anything that can be done to give kids one more day with their moms, is worth every effort.