what you hold in both hands (for kerry and patty)

i think it was at the retreat earlier this year when i first heard the phrase that goes something like you hold shit in one hand while you hold joy in the other. so, so true. i have felt that way for a quite a while now, a constant balancing act of holding both at the same time. some days the scales are tipped in one hand more than the other, and i just have to keep breathing and waiting for them to balance out again.

i thought about the joy and the shit when i was meeting with my counselor the other day and we were talking about the holidays. the absolute joy that the holidays bring. the reasons why these holidays have been a rough patch for me. but we have a plan, and you know that i am a girl who loves a good plan. so i keep holding both hands open, palm up, ready to take whatever comes.

i am asking you to send lots of love tomorrow for my friend kerry and her mom patty and their entire family. they will hold both in their hands tomorrow. patty's brain tumor in one hand, the birth of kerry's little baby boy in the other.

at the same time that patty is going in for scans tomorrow to determine tumor growth, kerry is going to be getting ready to be induced for the birth of her baby boy (who is taking his own sweet time and blew right past his delivery date). 

so let's send them a ton and love and good thoughts -- please send your love to seattle at noon as patty goes into scans and throughout the afternoon as they get the results. then carry them through for kerry at five until baby p is safely in her arms.

kerry and her family very much appreciate all of the mojo and love they have felt from all of you, so i thank you.

let's send them so much love and joy that all of their hands are filled with only good when baby p enters the world. xo