Wednesday, August 5

There has been a lot going on for us this week and I haven't been as diligent about posting as I should be. Our family has suffered a loss in the passing of John Jenkins and we celebrated his life yesterday. It was a nice few days of seeing family and friends that I haven't seen for a while; however, I have been thinking since that it's a shame we wait until a death to get together with one another. We seem to enjoy the company of one another so much, yet it's generally only when we're attending a funeral that we make getting together a priority.

Mom's battle with cancer has awakened me to many things, one being the value of building meaningful relationships with others. I guess I never realized how each and every one of us holds the potential to be instrumental in the lives of others. I'm not talking about anything earth-shattering, but just sitting down and not being so absorbed in ourselves long enough to listen to someone else. Mom, Allison, and I attended an event at the Cancer Center on Monday evening called "Look Good Feel Better." The program is sponsored by the American Cancer Society in partnership with cosmetologists and various cosmetic manufacturers. Each patient who attended was given a make-up bag filled with products and together these ladies were shown tips and techniques to applying makeup. There was a specific emphasis on cleanliness and ways to prevent the spread of germs during treatments. There were 13 ladies in attendance, with various types of cancer and in different stages of treatment. Some came with friends or family members, while others came alone. It was a wonderful program, but as I sat there I couldn't help but wonder how many of these ladies may be fighting their battle alone. Later, Allison and I talked that we feel so blessed that we have the support of so many friends and family members as we're going through our battle. Cancer aside, how many people in our lives are fighting some type of battle alone? This comes back to building meaningful relationships and extending ourselves to others. I've seen the wonderful things people are doing for our family and it is so touching, and now I encourage each of you to make the time to nurture a relationship with someone else.