Cancer sucks

So this week has been pretty bad. My aunt Gayle has fallopian tube cancer, and they found out she has more than just that. She's going in for surgery on the 13th to remove growths and to find out what stage she is. The difference between stage I and stage II is HUGE, so please pray for stage one. Then she'll start chemo based on what stage she's at and how fast she recovers from surgery. I also found out that a dear friend, Libby (who sang in our wedding), has been diagnosed with what they're calling a "low grade" cancer, PMP. It's looking like it's coming from her appendix. She's going to be starting chemo soon. On a positive note, my Gpa is doing well. He still has to get the stents in his kidney replaced periodically, but so far the cancer has stayed away.

I'm pretty good at finding songs that mean something to me, and finding meaning in lyrics...relating to them. Well, the current song that's been stuck in my head is called "How You Live" by Point of Grace. It's a contemporary Christian song, but the words apply to so much more than that, and I felt them especially appropriate for right now:

Wake up to the sunlight with your windows open
Don't hold in your anger or leave things unspoken
Wear your red dress, use your good dishes
Make a big mess and make lots of wishes

And have what you want, but want what you have
And don't spend your life looking back

Turn up the music
Turn it up loud
Take a few chances and let it all out
'Cause you won't regret it
Looking back from where you have been
'Cause it's not who you knew
And it's not what you did
It's how you live

So go to the ballgames and go to the ballet
And go see your folks more than just on the holidays
Kiss all your children, dance with your wife
Tell your husband you love him every night

Don't run from the truth 'cause you can't get away, no
Face it and you'll be okay

Turn up the music
Turn it up loud
Take a few chances and let it all out
'Cause you won't regret it
Looking back from where you have been
'Cause it's not who you knew
And it's not what you did
It's how you live

Oh, wherever you are and wherever you've been
Now is the time to begin
So give to the needy, and pray for the grieving
Even when you don't think that you can
'Cause all that you do is bound to come back to you
So think of your fellow man
And make peace with God, and make peace with yourself
'Cause in the end, there's nobody else

Turn up the music
Turn it up loud
Take a few chances and let it all out
'Cause you won't regret it
Looking back from where you have been
'Cause it's not who you knew
And it's not what you did
It's how you live

Seriously everyone, please pray for my aunt. I know all of you know someone that has cancer, or maybe you have/had it yourself, but she needs all the help she can get right now. She's still so young (in her 50s), and she has two young grandsons (both under age 5).

It seems like everyone around me is getting cancer. After the Challenge was over (can you believe it was only a couple weeks ago?), I felt almost let down in a way, because it was over...there was nothing to work toward anymore. But then I realized, I can do next year's ride. I can raise more money for the LAF. I realized I can fight to pass proposition 15, and I can vote. I got a proposition 15 poster signed by Lance at his San Antonio appearance, and I'm going to frame it and hang it on my wall to remind me what we're all fighting for.