MOTHERF***ING BRAIN CANCER!!

Did my title get your attention? Good!

Oh, man. Monday started out like any other Monday at home working in my pajamas. I saw a call from my friend Sarah B and considered not picking it up b/c I assumed it was a butt dial. Sarah and I aren't big phone people - especially in the morning on a work day. My curiosity got the better of me.

At first I couldn't tell if Sarah was really amused by something or near tears. Turns out it was the latter. She had just gotten off the phone with Sara M, who said her husband Kyle (and our good friend) was currently at Swedish in Seattle. Half of his body had gone numb and he was taken to the hospital where they found he had a large brain tumor. I started crying as soon as she said brain tumor. We both cried and blubbered. Then I called Sara M and we cried.

Fucking Brain Tumors. Should I be cursing on my blog? Well, I don't care, I'm going to. When Sarah said brain tumor it brought a rush of horrible memories back to me. My Dad passed away from brain cancer when I was in high school. He had an aggressive form that was inoperable and he only lived about 6 months. It was the most devastating time of my life to watch my Dad go from a brilliant, funny guy to unresponsive.

Sara M didn't know what kind of tumor it was yet, but said she would let me know when they got the results from the MRI. I know myself and many other people who knew about Kyle probably couldn't focus most of the day on Monday. Sara M finally called me in the late afternoon and GOOD NEWS! Kyle's tumor is benign and can be removed easily - well easy for brain surgery. PHEW!

Although Kyle's brain mass was ultimately not cancerous, I kind of feel like brain cancer is all around me lately. Last week I read that celebrated local newswoman Kathi Goertzen has brain cancer and then I received an e-mail from the Western Journalism Department informing me that my college PR teacher had passed away from brain cancer. WTF?

I was only in real distress over Kyle during the five hours when I didn't know what the diagnosis was, but overall the last week has made me take a look at life, my friends, my family and how brief everything can be.  If you are reading this and I consider you a friend or family member, know that I love you. I may not express that enough or even know how to express it sometimes, but I do. Very much!

P.S. Kyle had surgery on Wednesday and is doing well so far!  

Adventures in Antiquing

For the most part I like things that are new. New furniture. New jewelry. New cars. New buildings. When I was younger I used to really enjoy making old things new and buying the bulk of my clothes at Value Village. At some point I either really fell deeply in love with Target or got tired of rummaging through things to find treasures.

So, when my dear friend Sara suggested I meet up with her and my other dear friend Sarah (try not to be confused by the name similarity) to do some "antiquing" I don't think I was suuuper excited. But I was super excited to see them and I am usually up for doing pretty much anything, so I gladly agreed. Sara suggested we check out antique malls in Puyallup.

The Sara(h)s both own their homes and are much better than me at putting old things to good, modern uses, and heart antiques. So, it is amusing that I was the one who alerted them to a HUGE ANTIQUE SHOW happening that very same weekend at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. It features more than (gulp) 425 booths!

 With the antique show as our new destination, we met at the fairgrounds in the morning this past Saturday. There were as many antique people as there were objects. On average I guess antiquing isn't so much a young person's hobby. I was very overwhelmed by the large number of booths and people. Somewhat thankfully 95% of the booths didn't accept credit cards and that's all I had to pay with.

I spotted a few pretty crazy awesome antiques and I asked Sara to take photos of them.

I really feel like these two statues should
be sold as a set.

Yep, that's Ronald Reagan as a teapot.
His nose is the spout.

Oh, man. This is pretty horrifying.
Who wouldn't want a spinal cord lamp
in their living room??

I don't have a photo of him, but there was also a Abraham Lincoln impersonator at the show. They had a special Presidential Camp set up for him. Haha. We were at the show for a few hours and my feet were killing me at the end. I didn't find anything I couldn't live without, but Sara got a planter and some cylindrical...candle holder? Sarah got a milk crate.

Even though I didn't buy anything it was definitely an experience and a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.