Monday, November 16, 2009

The HOPES for Michael Celebration ~


First, I am so sorry for not updating sooner. I haven’t had much time to stop. It’s funny how things can pile up at work when you take vacation time.

Michael enjoyed every minute of his entire extended weekend in Kansas City. We left Texas late Wednesday night, arriving in Kansas City mid Thursday morning. Thursday, Michael slept most of the day. He was extremely sore from the ride up. We did stop every two hours for him to stretch. You can tell he is having pain when he takes his meds without a fight. He has taken pain meds more in the past 1 ½ weeks than in the past 6 months. Friday we just stayed at his friend’s house allowing him to rest up for Saturday.

Saturday, we had a fabulous time at Michael’s celebration. We have to thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts who took the time to show up. It meant a lot to Michael, Rebbecca, and I. We had a great turnout. We had close to 50 people show up I am guessing, I lost count. Even though many of you were not there, we did feel your spirit with us.

We had a chance to spend time with family, some we hadn’t seen in many years and a few of my family that had never had a chance to meet Michael but had been following his journey. We also had a chance to catch up with some old friends from our school days (we won’t say how many years that goes back, just remember our kids have already graduated high school). We also had a chance to meet some online friends for the first time. We have known them online for the past 3 years and they have been so supportive of Michael, it was nice to put a face to the name finally and give them a big hug for their support. We do have a few more we will be meeting up with in the very near future.

Sunday we spent the afternoon with family watching the NASCAR race in Texas. It’s kind of ironic, to watch the NASCAR race in Texas from Kansas City. After that, we went back to his friends for a nice cookout. Monday afternoon we headed back to Texas arriving home around midnight. He did say he would like to make the trip again soon. We didn’t have enough time to spend with everyone the way we wanted to. Maybe we can again after I have more vacation time built up at work after the first of the year.

It was nice to be away for the weekend. The weather in Kansas City was absolutely beautiful with mid 70’s the entire time we were there. Yes, ya’ll are welcome for us bringing the gorgeous weather up with us. We hadn’t been back to Kansas City (that is where we both grew up) in 5 years. Some things had changed, some hadn’t. It was nice to spend time with family and friends. And it was GREAT to see Michael smile. Even though he was in extreme pain, I think he has a smile on his face the entire time. Once we got home, he pretty much stayed in bed for 3 days and stayed on his pain meds. He started moving around more by this weekend.

Even though we have celebrated Michael kicking this cancer in the butt, there are many others still suffering. Yesterday, we lost another beautiful angel to this dreaded disease. Please pray for her family as they have to deal with her loss. It breaks my heart to hear of us losing these beautiful warriors. We have a few others that need our prayers. Please continue to pray for these sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, husbands, and wives who are suffering from this dreaded disease. And continue to pray for their family, that God grant them the strength needed to make it through their journey.
*Hugs*
Melodie

No comments: