My mom's sick. As in sick with cancer. And incurable. She's fought for 3 years. 3 long, hard years. Time that has been a gift. As she continues her battle, I am asking for prayers (always) and for cards. I want her to know that so many more people are rooting and praying for than she realizes. A card to make her smile, to laugh, to fight. Thank you.

Marilyn Smith
16202 N 1680 St
Teutopolis, IL 62467

As posted at Stronger Than Cancer:

I'm numb. And irate. And numb again. I can hardly talk to anyone. I want to scream. Yell. Throw things. Mom's cancer is growing. All of the tumors. In both lungs. Dr. Dy is not sure anything can be done. But, as a last resort, he is putting mom on a chemo that she has already been on. 2 years ago. In hopes that it might work again. He is also adding a medicine in with her chemo with the hope that it will help the chemo work. He is doubtful. Mom is in tears. We're all numb. And angry. We were grasping at straws trying to find something that could be done. But we're at the end of the road. At least medically speaking. Dr. Dy was wonderful and answered all of our questions and then some. Mom's shortness of breath is not due to sickness. It's due to the cancer. It's grown so much it's restricting her airways. Stents won't help. Surgery is not an option. I don't even have tears right now.

Weirdest license plate I ever saw, I saw on Monday.


UNIBROW


Yeah.


Imagine a first date and getting in the car and thinking "Wow, this person has a unibrow. Bad enough to proclaim on a daily basis to the world via their car."

Would there be a second date? Or no?

From 7:00 to 7:10 yesterday morning the following events happened:

7:00 - Walk into the kitchen to find a puddle of dog vomit.

7:01 - Scrubbing dog vomit off kitchen tile.

7:02 - Take Sophie & Gia out.

7:03 - Gia comes back. Sophie runs off.

7:04-7:08 - I'm outside. Hunting Sophie down. In my jammies. And boots. In the rain.

7:09 - Walk into the living room to find a FRESH puddle of dog vomit. On the freshly cleaned couch. Thank you Gia.

7:10 - I'm scrubbing dog vomit off the couch.


And the night wasn't much better.
Let the dogs out.
Sophie stepped in dog poop outside.
Before I had a chance to clean her paw she tracked it all over the house. The living room. Porch. Kitchen. Computer Area. Daelyn's room.


There are some days you should stay in bed. And there are some days you should stay in bed with a bottle of wine. Never setting a foot on the floor.
Except to pee.

Last night Daelyn came creeping out of her room not long after laying down. She was scared. I told her she could go ahead and crawl in bed with her brother.

As the door opened, the man looked up and asked: "Dae Dae you sleep in my bed?"
Dae "Yea, I'm scared. I don't want to sleep in my bed by myself."
Man "It's okay, you sleep here. I protect you."

And with that she crawled in his bed. He lifted up the covers so she could get in. He covered her up. She rolled over to sleep. And the man put his arms around her. To protect her. From nightmares. From the world.

Diana Harrison Biorkman has a 5-year old son in his last stages of a 2 1/2 year battle with Neuroblastoma Cancer. They are celebrating Christmas NEXT WEEKEND and Noah loves Christmas cards. Please send a card to: Noah Biorkman 1141 Fountain View Circle, South Lyon, MI 48178. Thank you so much and PLEASE REPOST on your blog or FaceBook. Lets get him a truckload of cards! Thank you!

Dear Daelyn,

To answer your question, Yes, I have pooped green. I am quite sure everyone has at some point in time. Even the Queen of England. Yes, there is a real life Queen. But she's ancient (no offense Your Majesty). Check out her grandsons when you are of a decent age. But perhaps then you'll be looking at her great-grandsons. I digress.

Anyways, you are still required to eat your green veggies. Green beans. Broccoli. I don't do peas so you have no worries there. And I won't ply you with asparagus after the last time when it ended on my wall. So really, the green veggies we eat, you like. No big deal.
And to answer your second question, it really is kinda gross.

Signed,

Everyone Poops
Including Momma

***

Dear Man,

Is it even possible to keep up with you? Is there a reason I even attempt to clean my house? You got 2 baths yesterday. The second one was the normal bath/bed thing. The first? Before noon? That was because you were shoving fistfuls of chocolate powder into your mouth. And drooling afterwards. I do apologize if I was less than thrilled. But leaving a mound of chocolate powder on the couch is just not cool. I don't much care for it on the floor. Or a chocolate hand print on my wall.

As for the macaroni noodles? I told you not to touch the box. You touched the box. The box fell over. Macaroni went all over the floor. I don't like stepping on uncooked noodles as I'm trying not to burn the stroganoff.

And a note about Monday's paint job. You.can.not.paint.dogs.with.food.products. And please not with the applesauce or ketchup. Was it really necessary? Yes, I know, I saw that Sophie thought it was great that she could just lick her side and get a 2fer1 taste. But let's not do that again, okay?

Signed,

Tired of Cleaning Only to do It Again

Momma

***
Dear HH,

I am sorry about the night a few weeks ago when I yelled at you in my sleep. I realize as I'm fully awake that you only left me sleeping on the couch because I was doing just that. Sleeping. And we both know I don't do that well enough anyways. I didn't consciously realize that I was yelling at you about allowing me to fall asleep first. About your snoring. And whatever else it was that I kept going on and on about. I plead the fifth. I have absolutely no clue what I was doing. I just remember waking up in daze on the couch and stumbling to bed. I am sorry for getting all b*tchy on you. In my sleep. Next time, I'll do it while I'm wide awake ;)

Signed,

Well-rested

SIBB

***

Dear Sophie,

Is there anything you don't eat? Just curious.

Signed,

Missing 1 or 43 socks

Momma

***

Dear Gia,

When did you get all grouchy? You're worse than Oscar. Is it old age? Is it Sophie? The tots? Or has that always been your disposition and I just never noticed?

Signed,

Tired of the lip

Momma

***

Dear Pappy,

Daelyn is not happy. My hubby wasn't thrilled either. It's called saying "Thank You" when someone else rakes most of your lawn. I realize Dae girl probably wasn't much help but she's 5. And small for her age. She did the best she could. But I saw my HH raking. My man works. And hard. I'm just sayin.

Signed,

I live with these people

Bonz

***

Dear Momma,

I'm sorry you are sick. I hope you get well soon.

Signed,

Worried

Dawn-eo

***

As always, visit Shortmama at a Family of Shorts for more Dear Someone letters.

And for a good laugh, check out her "I Bet Ya Didn't Know" post. Hilarious. About piddled.