Battles

My whole family is battling something these days. My mom's battling cancer, my sister and her family are battling autism, Kory is battling the big yellow blow-up pyramid thingy that floats on the lake so we can take it on vacation, and I am battling battles between my girls. Needless to say, when I talk about my personal battles, they seem very small compared to what my mom and my sister are dealing with on a daily basis.

Mom will be starting 5 weeks of radiation in a few weeks, and she will have an extra week just for good measure--a boost I believe is what they called it, but don't quote me on that. She goes in to have a mold made first and gets tattoed. She seems okay--she doesn't really know how it will affect her, but she seems to be going into this with a lot of dignity, maybe almost stoic like my grandmother was. At least that's the side I see. I think she shows different sides to all of us kids.

Marlene has her big speech to give at the 2 day conference on autism. I am so proud of her--I think it is so cool. She and John will be sitting on the parents panel, and Marlene is giving a speech at the VIP luncheon. I really wish I could go. I hope somebody video-tapes it. I believe some people from my work are going, so hopefully I will hear all about it from them. The whole conference was planned because of a speech she gave at an Easter Seals fundraiser. One of the professors at the University heard it and said to his wife that we needed to have a conference on autism, so from what I understand he got it going. That amazes me. She is making a difference.

And now for my battle. I really am at my wits end about my girls--today the fight was BAD. I bought them each a new toy for when we go on vacation, and they were playing with them in the camper. I came inside, and Kory was outside battling the yellow thingy I referred to earlier. I guess there was yelling and screaming and shoving, and they're just lucky that I did not witness it. Kory takes it pretty easy on them. Not me. I hate fighting. So, they both came in and had to be on separate floors of the house, while the new toys got grounded for a week until we go on vacation--they are in the camper in a bag to be left alone until we are at our destination. Errrrr.

I most definitely will take this piddly little battle (even though at the time it seems so huge) over the others I see around me. Now there's this pile of clean clothes downstairs calling my name. . . bleh.