weekender

our weekend was a good one.

it was full of fun things....campouts + s'mores + sleeping in + cartoon watching + valentine's day shopping + shared notes about things we loved (see pic above) valentine's crafts + fun mail preparation + celebrating my dad's birthday + party decorating + cookie making + cookie eating + ice cream eating + playing veterinary clinic for hours (and hours) + dance party at night + papa and malena dance party in the morning to beyonce (priceless) + finding a new addition to our home, an adorable stuffed dog (who is named carmel) that malena could not live without + tons of laughter + the fun list could go and on and on. we crammed a lot of into this weekend.

my dad's birthday is monday, so for obvious reasons, we celebrated a little bit early this weekend. i love my dad, i think that he is the best. he will turn 68 this year. he taught me to ride a bike. to fly a kite. he played with me at the park for endless hours when i was a kid feeding ducks and watching me go down the slide (over and over again). he has taught me a million and one things that i carry through my daily life. not the least of which is how to set a good example and be kind and generous to friends and family. he has been so proud of all of my accomplishments. the big and the small. he has been a cheerleader when things haven't gone my way. he is a great grandfather to all his grandkids. he has been there every step along the way with me. he was at my first surgery, he will be at my second. he drove me to treatments. he sat with me in the room while the interferon dripped into my arm through the iv. he took me anywhere i wanted to go when i just wanted to get the hell out of the house for a while when i felt like hell during treatments. throughout the last two years, he has done everything possible to help. mowed the lawn. ran errands (and they have been endless). dropped off and picked up my drycleaning. waited in line at the post office to mail packages for me (he will do that again this week). went to the grocery store (sometimes more than once in the same day). washed our cars. filled them up with gas. made numerous costco runs. got the oil changed in the car. took my car to have the tires rotated. made a million trips to my mailbox for me. paced our sidewalk outside waiting for the phone to ring with results. he has done it all, and he has done it all without ever thinking twice. that is my dad. he is the reason that february 11th is an important day in my life.

on this february 11th, i will go into surgery around 10am. i still have a cold, but no fever, so hopefully we get the green light tomorrow. depending on how surgery goes, i will be in the operating room between 1 and 5 hours. if all goes well, i will be home on tuesday. if surgery is more intense, i will in the hospital for a few days. my sister has graciously decided to provide blog updates on my progress until i am feeling well enough to do it myself. thanks in advance nerd - you rock.

tonight malena fell asleep on me around 8, i think that all of the fun this weekend tired her out. i can relate. she will go to bed tonight with no idea about what will happen tomorrow. she is looking forward to a day with her mema jo. she fell asleep before we could tell her about mommy seeing a doctor tomorrow. she won't know about the word surgery, or the word hospital. she won't have any reason to be scared, and she won't know the reasons why all of this is needed. she will just know that mom is a little bit slower and will need some rest. she will know that she needs to be a helper for mommy. she will know that she will need to give mommy hugs when she is sitting down because mommy won't be able to lift her up. man, i am really going to miss picking her up to get those big hugs for awhile.

but she is worth it all.

thanks for all of the good thoughts and prayers, i will take them with me tomorrow into surgery and through the recovery that follows. we will find out in the next day or two when we get the results, which likely will not be until some time later next week.

anywhere i go you go. xo.