Happy Birthday to my guardian angel, my sister, my Best Friend.....

It's no secret...I use quotes to help me express the way I feel.  I am able to write a lot of things, but for some reason, when describing the people who mean the most to me, I always need a little help getting across just how much they mean to me!  These quotes express how much I love "my Mel"!!
She is my guiding light, my guardian angel, my savior, my shelter in the storm, my soul sister and my Best Friend in the whole world...and I want to wish her an VERY Happy Birthday!  It's Early, just incase I forget to write it down on Feb 20th...I wish you all the happiness in the world my sweet Mel...as you truly deserve it and more!!!

"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit"

. ~Albert Schweitzer

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.

~Henri Nouwen

"Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart”

Eleanor Roosevelt

Moments in Time....

One day you are in the shower...doing what you do while in the shower and suddenly you feel a lump where a lump shouldnt be....what goes through your head at that moment???

1. I am sure it's nothing..mom had lumps and they were just cysts!
2. What if it isn't nothing!
3. What if it's cancer......

Now, never having had a scare like this before, but having been through it with a family member before, a million thoughts went throught my head in the week that I waited to have a mammogram/ultrasound.  These were thoughts that I had never had before, never needed to have before and never want again, but these are thoughts that everyone should have in their lifetime as they put things into perspective...it's just one moment in time, but it's your life!

1. If it's cancer...what will happen to Dale and my boys?
2. How will Dale handle this??
3. How will my boys handle this??
4. How will my family and friends handle this??
5. How will I handle this??
6. I don't want to have cancer!
7. What if I die??

Now..after my initial panic...the thoughts of what I would really do came to light: 

If I have cancer, I will FIGHT it, I will hunt it down and I will BEAT it!  I will support my husband, boys, family and friends in the same way I always have, but I will lean on them for support also.  I will not wallow in the "what if's"...I will be a warrior, a soldier, a fighter and a winner and I will survive to see my boys grow to be men. 

Turns out it was nothing...all was fine, just some lumpy breasts!  But in a strange way, I am glad that it happened, because it reminded me of how precious time really is.  It reminded me of how I should live life to its fullest, how I should never give up, never wallow in self pity, never feel sorry for myself, never forget how lucky I am to have friends, family, love, happiness and most of all... to have life!

These boys are my future, my legacy and I will never forget again how precious and short my time could  be with them...I will cherish and protect it always.....

“It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth - and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up, we will then begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had.”
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross