Mom.Writer.Serial Volunteer
My life is a carousel ride, a never-ending ‘round and ‘round, busier and busier, sometimes steadier than others and as dizzying as it is at times, I can’t seem to get off the carousel, nor most of the time of the time do I truly want to. I may change horses, get a different vantage point, but generally I’m going ‘round and ‘round at a pace that can be daunting at times to others.
Family is often a complicated matter, and even when we’re at our very best; it can be a delicate dance to keep us in that condition. Sometimes though, the stars align and there’s no extra effort at all and a day or two (or even more) just sparkles in ways that make the time extra special.
This has been a busy weekend, with one activity after another, the pace of which doesn’t necessarily lend to stellar moods. However, it was a remarkable weekend in ways big and small; the kind that weaves memorable threads into the intricate tapestry we have created of our family life together. At face value, one might miss the little moments that led to the big. I didn’t. I notice and appreciate them.
Today, my oldest son, Sean, turns 30, which makes perfect sense in the general scheme of things, but seems weird to me nonetheless. It’s par for the course for us moms to say things like, “Gosh, it was just yesterday when he was a baby and now look at him,” but the truth is, it doesn’t seem like just yesterday he was a baby at this point nor does it seem like he was really young any time recently, not that he seems particularly old right now. I’m not sure what age he seems to be other than just what he is, but it’s the idea of him being thirty, well. . .that just feels odd. I have a thirty-year old son. Wouldn’t I be old by now if that was true?
Continue reading “My Boy Turns Thirty”
Having survived stage 3 anaplastic large cell lymphoma, a rare form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, at times it’s as if it never really happened to me even as it remains an integral part of who I am.
In the darkest days of that illness, while I did indeed worry if I would get through it, there was still a part of me that believed that this was just going to be one more twist in the legend of my own life and in the long run, it would be insignificant in the face of everything else still to come.
I don’t dwell much on that time, but every now and then, something brings it all back. The other night was one of those times. I watched the movie “50/50” with one of my sons and my daughter. I had wanted very much to see this movie, and had been looking forward to it for some time. If you’re not familiar with the plot, the main character, played so well by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is a 27-year old man who finds he has advanced stage cancer and has a 50/50 chance of getting through it. Thank goodness, he did.
Pamme Boutselis 