Hide it under a bushel, NO!

Last weekend was a great one! The Crushers had a baseball tournament in Christiansburg. Nothing beats baseball weekends and this tournament really got it kicked off! In addition to the Crushers playing, our nephew Alex Griffith, who plays baseball for the Pitt Panthers had a weekend of games at Virginia Tech! We were only able to catch about an hour of Pitt baseball because of our schedule, but what great fun the boys and all of us had!  Our entire Crushers baseball team went over to English Field and Alex and his buddy Tyler Garbee entertained all sorts of questions from our squad.  Our guys were star-struck! I remember having those same feelings when I was a young girl, watching the UVA Women’s Basketball team!

One of our little guys told Tyler that his dream was to play in the MLB and instead of dismissing him or laughing, he replied, “You hold on to that dream.”

I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make this ole sappy mom get teary eyed.

Alex reached over the fence and gave me a hug when I got there. I hadn’t seen him since Christmas and I hadn’t received my diagnosis at that time. Alex is our first-born nephew and will always hold a super special place in our hearts. He’s handsome and talented and polite and has a good heart and we are so proud of him.

Later that night, all of the Griffiths (minus Papaw, Riley, and Zackary) were able to meet up for dinner and it was great! Alex brought me a special gift—a baseball signed by the entire Pitt baseball squad!  It’s an absolute treasure to me!

We had a great weekend even though we didn’t bring home any Crusher bling this weekend. Sometimes losses have more lessons packed in them than wins and I think this weekend was one of them.  We had a great devotion on Sunday and once again, I’d be lying if I said this ole gal didn’t have tears streaming down her cheeks.  Funny how just the right message is sent when you are listening.

We finished in third place that weekend and we stopped by the Cracker Barrel for some dinner Sunday evening.  We were doing what we do—goofing off in the gift shop—Kevin was asking the hostess if he ate the candy before we were seated if we had to pay for it. Sigh.  Welcome to my world.  I looked up and a man had kind of circled around me. I was wearing my gray hat that day and he asked, “Is there any particular reason that you have that haircut?” I looked at him, kind of shocked, and replied, “Yes, I have breast cancer.” He looked kindly at me and then he turned his eyes to his wife and held out his hand toward her. He told me his wife also was battling breast cancer.  She had gone through all of her chemo and was now taking Herceptin. The couple was from Franklin County and they had been down in Hampton over the weekend visiting family. The lady and I chatted and it was quite emotional. I’ve said it before that it’s a sisterhood that nobody wants to be part of, but once you are, the bonds are deep—even between two strangers.  We wished one another the best and parted.

The following day, I attended a funeral--the funeral of a good friend’s father. It was a beautiful celebration of life. As the service proceeded, I tearfully took in my surroundings. I watched a son comfort his mother and I watched family members hold one another up. I watched friends gather in support. 

This last week has been a reminder to me of how important human relationships are and how we are created for them. We are created to love.

“But love, I’ve come to understand, is more than three words mumbled before bedtime. Love is sustained by action, a pattern of devotion in the things we do for each other every day.”― Nicholas Sparks, The Wedding

This week was a chemo week. Chemo went well. The kids weren't feeling well so I took them to the doctor and Riley has the flu. It’s making things a little more stressful at home this week while we sit on pins and needles in dread that someone else will get the flu.

I went to work today and around 2 pm, I told Deana that I was going to go on home because I could hardly hold my eyes open and I just couldn’t understand why. She laughed and said that it was hilarious to her that I couldn’t understand why I was so tired with everything I have been through.

I have had such a great couple of weeks that I was expecting the rest of this to go just as smoothly. Today everything caught up with me. I was sore from the Neulasta shot and I was dog, dead tired. I went home and took a nap. I know I will have days like these from time to time, but they are frustrating. Tomorrow is a new day. 

-lightningbug