Belated Birthday

Many long awaited months have passed to celebrate a wonderful birthday dinner. My father and stepmother sent my brother and I a gift certificate for a lobster dinner.

The chemo drugs are slowly diminishing and my tastebuds are back....no better time than the future than to enjoy a wonderful meal. And a wonderful meal it was!

We ordered four, five pound lobsters. They were delivered around 2:45 Friday afternoon. Maia was freaking out everytime she heard the claws scratch against the box. Neither Chase, Oliva or Maia wanted to hold them. I guess in a childs eyes they can be scary looking.

I borrowed a restaurant size pan to cook them in...two at a time. The first two went in without hesistation. Lobby number 3 felt obligated to try to jump out of the pan. It would not have been so bad, but the pot of butter(which was turned off by now...all 3lbs) was sitting next to the lobster pot. A small bit of water hit the pan of butter and eruption occured! Butter, butter and more butter everywhere! Clean up later...time to eat!

Living in Arizona, we enjoy lobster when we can. The proper instruments to eat lobster are hard to come by. Hammers, plyers and wooded skewers work just fine to pick a lobster. Rich and Jeremy broke, twisted, cracked and pryed every morsel of meat for the rest of us to chow on!

Messy, messy and more messy...but every bite was enjoyed. And every bite will be remembered. The left overs...yes, we had leftovers....have been frozen for the next dinner of lobster bisque.....pounds of it.

So thank you again Dad and Karla, we enjoyed every moment.

Now it is time to call Merry Maids for the clean-up committee.

Final Countdown...

I have made it to the end. My last chemo session! I walked out of my oncologists office and cried. Cried as a sign of relief, cried for the unknown of the next five years, but most of all cried out from victory. Victory to say I am a survivor.

I can soon start to enjoy walking at lengths again. I can drop the ten pounds steroids have given me! I can finish the scrapbook I started without feeling "foggy". I can deal with what God puts in front of me. I can support others. Most of all, I can make a difference.

I will have my official celebration when the side effects of this last treatment have subsided. I have been patiently waiting to indulge in a lobster dinner from my father and stepmother. I can't think of an easier way to celebrate!