And Then 5 O'clock Happened

Today was good day.

I cleaned.

I unpacked.

I did laundry.

I ran errands.

I bought {awesome} birthday gifts for the hubs.

I baked.

Heck, I might even say it was shaping up to be a great day.

I love being productive.

And after an entire month of living off and with other people, followed by an entire {very long} weekend spent being pretty darn lazy it felt good to be so productive today.

Stella and I were dressed in our Buckeye finest in preparation to cheer on our boys in the Sugar Bowl tonight {p.s. we are winning right now!  Go Bucks!!!!}

and Ryan was dressed in his Sunday best to help our Church's youth at a weekday temple activity.

I had just finished the final touches on Ryan's birthday treat to take to our game viewing party:

Brownies from scratch? Check.

{and not even the slightest bit burnt...insert hallelujah chorus here...}

Hot Fudge Sauce cooling? Check.

{Delicious!}

Ice Cream still freezing? Check, check, check.

Then 5 o'clock happened.

I opened my email to find a message in my inbox entitled "Sad News".

Never what you want to see in your inbox.  Trust me.

I read the words through my tears to learn that one of my dearest friends from college has just been diagnosed with cancer.  And it is bad.

I mean it always is, but this time it is not good.

I met this wonderful woman through the dietetics program at Utah State.

We weren't the likeliest friends.

In fact, I was a bit intimidated by her to begin with.

Her = Older, wiser, returned Missionary, single, outgoing, brilliant.

Me = shy, young, married even younger, trying to keep my head above water, and working on keeping my impending departure from the program on the hush hush.

But we were united as lab partners and together we served our Food Service rotation sentences.

And soon we learned that to go along with all that stuff we didn't have in common there was a whole lot that we actually did have in common.

And together we got through those hours of slicing vegetables and designing menus and taking surveys of resident's opinions of the food at the old folks home.

And along the way we became dear friends.

And now she is facing the fight of her life.

And it has hit me like a ton of bricks.

I hate cancer.

I mean I really hate cancer.  I loathe it.  I despise it.

And it breaks my heart when someone so undeserving has to take on such a monster.

But my friend is strong.

She is so strong.

And if anyone can do it, I am sure it is her.

But I will praying all the while.

Because for some reason that dang cancer always finds the best of the best.

And I don't want it to win this time.

***

Then 6 o'clock happened.

And my baby started puking.

And puking.

And puking.

I think she might be done now, but to be honest I think there just isn't anything left in there waiting to come out.

I have never seen my baby sick with anything besides a runny nose.

And let me tell you, it is heartbreaking.

So we changed out of our wet, stinky Buckeye clothes.

And then again out of our fresh pajamas.

And again out of our onesie.

And then we snuggled up together and watched Elmo's World while our friends gathered across town to eat, visit, and watch football.

Ryan's birthday treats didn't make it.

Luckily his birthday isn't until tomorrow, and hopefully that great day that today was shaping up to be will transfer over to then.

Because he doesn't have many more birthdays in the twenties to celebrate.

In fact, this is his last one.

So I hope it is a good one.

And that my baby feels so much better.

And that my friend kicks cancer's ass.