17 Years and Counting!

Usually, we are counting down until a much anticipated event will happen or a tragic experience will be over. But today I would like to break from the norm and begin counting up. Yes, I have begun to realize over the past year that it is much better to count up! I wake up in the morning and I can thank God that I am given one more day. I meet one more parent of one of my kid's friends, while on the class trip, and I can ask that God will use this as one more opportunity to do His "thing". I celebrate with Stephen today our 17th anniversary and I ask God for a blessing on this wonderful man who has been there in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, and I know that the three of us can walk through whatever life brings together. It generally is much better to count up!

For the past week I was counting the days til the Huron County "Relay for Life." In the afternoon as we walked the girls home from school, Meagan mentioned that she was excited for the walk. I thought that it was the usually things that she looked forward to - playing in the open field with her friend, getting her face painted, having a balloon animal, or staying up til it was dark and seeing all the candles lit around the track. But once again, the words of the girls never cease to be a surprise. She was glad that I was a survivor, so that I could walk in the survivor walk.

Now, I have taken the first steps in an "official" survivors' walk and can begin to count up how many more I will be granted to walk. Here is a little recap of my first "survivor" relay for life and I look forward to adding more to it. It was wonderful to see Meagan running about the mid-field swinging their swords in a mock battle against some unseen beast. She was delighted in all the "free stuff" that was available to take home. How excited she is with the small things in life sometimes. My heart swelled as Nicole was sitting with her school friends cheering me on during the Survivors' Walk. She had rallied her friends in a line right beside the track and told them my name so that they could shout it out. Her encouragement and concern for me easily was felt and projected with the numerous hugs throughout the night. I was delighted to watch Sarah bounce Chantal on the blowup dragon or toss the Frisbee straight toward her unintended target. Her joy in living in the moment is so refreshing. I was choked up by Stephen's thoughtfulness in the littlest things even right down to the extra luminary purchased that night. He was busy capturing as many of the moments as he could, making sure that everyone was caught on film whether they wanted to be or not. His enthusiasm and joy in remembering and celebrating the impact of this event is overwhelming. While I was able to make it through the walk without shedding a tear, it was during the lighting of the luminaries that my eyes glistened. It was at that moment that I realized that this was the second year that there were candles to be lit with my name on it. Even more striking was that I have been added to the growing number of those living with a cancer diagnosis. The track seemed to shine brighter and swell with what I thought were more luminaries than the previous year. I guess here too the counting will just continue.

Tonight, I end with just this one last thought... that while I will continue to count, I will try to only add up the good things. Because it is the blessings that we receive from Above that really count in the end anyways.